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✓'1 ? 


THE TWO WORLDS, 


■t 6 


THE NATURAL AND THE SPIRITUAL: 


THEIR INTIMATE CONNEXION AND RELATION ILLUSTRATED BY EXAMPLES 
AND TESTIMONIES, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 


BY 


P 


THOMAS BREVIOR. . 0 + 


IT h 










“Though there be but one World to Sense, there are two to Reason—the one visible, and the 
other invisible.”— Sir Thomas-Browne. 

“We Children of men are on earth already members of Two Worlds, the outer or material, 
and the inner or spiritual.”— Zschokke. 

“ The soul being in connection with two worlds, the one the seat of its shrouded head hidden 
from our sight, but to which by its real nature it belongs ; the other foreign to its proper nature, 
but in which it is now embodied, and according to the law by which it effects its development, 
and attains the consciousness of itself; it is therefore natural that it should receive the influence 
of both worlds.”— Neander. 

“ The connection between the Visible and the Invisible Worlds is one of the greatest of aU 

questions.Man stands on the verge of two worlds, and must ever, therefore, be deeply 

interested in their bearing and connexion with each other; and I believe it is only a lapse into a 
grosser and more material state of being that can annihilate that interest. Often at that time, I 
heard it said, £ we can no longer think of shadows, we have now too many realities to occupy us 
but at the end of sixty-five years, aU those from whose lips I heard the sentiment, have learned 
that it is the invisible world which constitutes the only realityand that those pressing interests 
which they once conceived of as vivid realities, have proved to be the passing shadows.”— 
M. A. Schimmelpenninck. 

w 



E. PITMAN, 20, PATERNOSTER ROW. 


[The Right of Translation is Reserved.'] 








LONDON : 

Printed by A. Schulze, 13, Poland Street. 





CONTENTS 


Introduction. 


Page. 

V 


BIBLE SPIRITUALISM. 


CHAP. 

I. Testimony of Scripture..1 

II. The Law of the Old Testament, and the New. . . 5 

III. The Demoniacs.12 


ANCIENT SPIRITUALISM. 

IV. The Hindoo Sacred Books; Egypt; Greece; Borne; 

The Oracles; The Sybils; &c.17 

V. The Philosophers.28 

CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALISM TO THE REFORMATION. 

VI. Middleton’s Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers 

in the Christian Church.36 

VII. Spiritual Gifts in the Church in the first three Cen¬ 


turies.42 

VIII. The Middle Ages. Boman Catholic Miracles. . . 50 

IX. Joan of Arc.70 


X. The Vaudois. The Bohemian Church. The Leaders 

of the Beformation.84 

SHADOWS AND LIGHTS. 


XI. Witchcraft.97 

XII. Guardian Angels and Ministering Spirits. . . . 108 











CONTENTS. 


iv 


PROTESTANT CHURCHES AND THEIR LEADERS. 


CHAP. Page. 

XIII. Count Zinzendorf and the United Brethren. . . 123 

XIV. George Fox and the Society of Friends. . . .131 

XV. The Protestants of the Cevennes, or Camisars. . . 143 

XVI. Ann Lee and the Millenial Church, (Shakers.) . . 156 

XVII. Wesley and the Early Methodists.172 


XVIII. Swedenborg and the Church of the New Jerusalem. . 179 

XIX. Joanna Southcott..190 

XX. Edward Irving and Spiritual Gifts.—The Catholic 

Apostolic Church.200 

XXI. Spiritual Gifts:—Mr. Baxter’s Narrative. . . .215 

XXII. Spiritual Gifts:—The Gift of Healing.227 

XXIII. Spiritual Gifts:—Manifestations at Port Glasgow. . 238 

XXIV. Joseph Smith and the Church of Latter-Day Saints. . 244 

XXV. The Church of England.260 

XXVI. The Churches in America.276 

PHENOMENA. 


XXVII. The “ Preaching Epidemic” in Sweden. . . . 290 

XXVIII. Apparitions.298 

XXIX. Sounds and Sights.311 

XXX. Manifold Phases of Spiritual Agency.334 

XXXI. Teachings. 344 


APPENDICES. 

Appendix A.—How was Divine Revelation given to the Jews ? 363 
Appendix B.—Glimpses of Spiritualism in the East. . . . 386 

Appendix C.—A Glance at the New World. . . . .411 

Appendix D.—Spiritual Manifestations in the Wesley Family, 

and their Critics. 

Appendix E.—The Cock-Lane Ghost. 

Appendix F.—Testimony.. 

Index to Authors, or Books, &c., quoted or referred to. 


. 419 
. 429 
. 438 


. 459 




INTRODUCTION. 


The existence of a Spirit-world—a world of departed Humanity, is 
a fundamental article in every religious creed: equally universal is 
tlie belief that the state of the inhabitants of that world is mainly 
dependent upon their conduct and character in this: and scarcely 
less general, if not so prominent, is the persuasion that on the one 
hand we are subject to temptation and evil suggestions from the 
lower portion of this Spirit-world, and that, on the other, there is a 
constant care and guardianship exercised over us, and a stream of 
holy influences poured in upon our souls from the spirits of the 
blessed and glorified. That these beliefs do not exercise their full 
and legitimate influence is clear, and it is equally evident that there 
is a large, and apparently an increasing number—and that too among 
the educated and intelligent, who, avowedly or covertly, disbelieve in 
Spirit existence altogether, and affirm that Nature, or material forces 
and phenomena, constitute the totality of being. 

The leading cause of this incredulity we need not go far to seek : 
our souls are cold and our faith is weak because we no longer realise 
the certainty and the nearness of the Spirit-world. Our faith—the 
faith of the Christian Churches (except so far as it is an instinct or 
intuition) rests upon authority and tradition, sometimes buttressed 
by abstruse metaphysical reasoning, which if it occasionally dissi¬ 
pates the mist, perhaps still more frequently plunges those who 
follow it into a deeper fog-bank of doubt. Our laboured arguments 
in proof of spiritual verities, while they seldom satisfy the intellect, 
still more rarely bring home any deep conviction to the soul. While 
we remain immersed in Nature, we shall ever be confronted by 
difficulties and perplexities based upon facts and appearances in 



VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


nature and in human life, and which mere* philosophical argument 
and speculative reasoning struggle against in vain. 

Is there then no escape from this apparently interminable con¬ 
troversy—no possibility of its being brought to a speedy and satis¬ 
factory issue ? Fortunately, facts on the broadest scale are answering 
the question for us—if we will only look at and fairly examine them, 
instead of hiding our heads in the bush in order that we may not 
see them: I allude to the phenomena known as “ Spiritual Mani¬ 
festations.” It is common, in this country especially, (common in 
the degree in which people are ignorant of them,) to ignore 
these things, or to treat them only with the utmost scorn; a 
course of proceeding which is not only unwise, but which, with 
the constantly increasing evidence to their reality, is fast becoming 
impossible. Already, in America, among a people as critical and 
quick-witted as ourselves, the subject has passed through this phase 
into general recognition, and, though at a slower pace, it is here, 
and on the continent of Europe, following the same course. Having 
carefully investigated it, so far as opportunity has permitted me, 
I have been astonished at the overwhelming mass of evidence from 
all quarters in its favour; and hence, with the force of demonstra¬ 
tion which its many well attested facts present in proof of the reality 
of the Spiritual World and its intimate connexion with Humanity 
in the present world. 

This result naturally led me to inquire into the views on this 
subject held in past ages, especially by those distinguished and 
thoughtful men whose memories we most cherish and respect, and 
into the corresponding facts, which, unwilling as I had been to 
credit them, I found scattered broadcast throughout universal 
history. Some of the results of this inquiry I have published 
from time to time as separate essays in the British Spiritual 
Telegraph, and the Spiritual Magazine. At the request of friends, 
and in the hope that, whatever their defects, they may, in some 
degree, prove useful to those engaged in similar studies, I 
have included them (but revised, and in great part rewritten) 
in the present volume. This will explain any occasional (I trust 
unfrequent) tautology in idea or expression that may be found 
in it; and the occasional omission of reference to particular 
passages quoted. It would have seemed mere pedantry to have 
given these in the periodicals in which those chapters originally 
appeared; and to supply them now would in some instances uselessly 


INTRODUCTION. 


vii 


burden the page, and in others, would require an amount of time 
and labour altogether disproportioned to the end. 

Many of the accounts and authorities furnished in those essays, 
have been largely quoted, among other writers, by W. M. Wilkin¬ 
son, in his book, on The Revival, and by William Howitt, in The 

• History of the Supernatural :—works to which I would refer the reader 
for a full statement of many points which I have barely adverted 
to, or altogether omitted—especially of certain phenomena attending 
recent and former religious awakening, and of the evidence of Spirit- 
communion, both as a faith and as a fact, furnished by the ancient 
heathen mythologies and traditions. In this work I have presented 
only the frame-work of a vast subject, which I should be glad to see 
filled np by other and more competent hands, or superseded by 
something completer and better than itself. 

* I trust it will be understood that I have throughout employed the 
term “ Spiritualism,” not in the merely limited and conventional 
sense in which it is now usually received; but in in its generic 
character—as including all facts which indicate the action of spiritual 
forces and beings, and especially of those which demonstrate the 
agency of an invisible human world. As it is expressed in the motto 
of the Spiritual Magazine :—“ Spiritualism is based on the cardinal 
fact of Spirit-communion and influx: it is the effort to discover all 
truth relating to man’s spiritual nature, capacities, relations, duties, 
welfare, and destiny; and its application to a regenerate life. It 
recognises a continuous divine inspiration in man; it aims, through a 
careful reverent study of facts, at a knowledge of the laws and 
principles which govern the occult forces of the universe; of ther 
relations of spirit to matter, and of man to God and the Spiritual 
World. It is thus catholic and progressive, leading to true religion, 

* as at one with the highest philosophy.” While I fully recognize its 
phenomenal phases, I regard these as only its incidents and out¬ 
ward evidences, not its essentials; the mere outcrop on the surface 
indicating the presence and operation of underlying spiritual forces 
as their root and centre. 

' Christians now-a-days are ashamed, or, as they think, too en¬ 
lightened, to appeal to the direct evidence of a Future Life which 
the facts of Spiritual Manifestation supply; although their Bible 
is the greatest storehouse of spiritual facts, and the Christian 
and every other form of religion are cradled in them. But though 
this course is now respectable and fashionable, it should be borne in 


INTRODUCTION. 


viii 

mind that it is only a fashion—that general scepticism on this point 
in the Christian world is of very recent date,* and that as it has 
advanced, steadily, and in parallel line with it, has been the 
advance of material philosophies, the denial of Revelation and of a 
Spiritual World, and the gravitation of faith to a vanishing point; 
until at length, in the bosom of the Established Church of this 
country, we find the attempt made by some of its recognized and 
eminent teachers to get rid (as divines and professors have been 
doing in Germany) of the supernatural element in Christianity 
altogether. Were the effort successful, we might say with Law :— 
“ Behold! . . . The Kingdom of God shut up, and only a Kingdom 
of Scribes and Pharisees come instead of it.” 

Kor need this state of things surprise us, it is a consistent, logical 
result: of the denial of existent spiritual agencies. Tell men that the 
spiritual facts and manifestations in the Bible are absolutely unique— 
that they do not correspond to the experience of the world in any 
other age, least of all in our own; and how long, think you, are they 
likely to retain a belief in them F How long will you believe in them 
ypurself ? Will your children believe in them at all ? You may make 
the statement in all simplicity and honesty; but do not be surprised if 
the unbeliever laughs in his sleeve and repeats it with a sneer. In vain 
will you lean for support on the props of historical evidence, they will 
bend under you like reeds. You will be reminded that if they occurred 
then, they may occur now, and you will be asked, if you reject the tes¬ 
timony of the living, how can you expect others to accept the testi¬ 
mony of the dead Pf May not the same faculties, powers, laws, by which 
spiritual communion with man was once effected serve for its conti¬ 
nuance and present operation ? Are God’s laws repealed P Is the Angel- 
world less near P Have " ministering spirits” ceased to minister ? 

“ Why come not spirits from the realms of glory 
To visit earth as in the days of old— 

The times of ancient writ and sacred story; 

Is heaven more distant? or has earth grown cold? 

"To Bethlehem’s air was their last anthem given— 

When other stars before the One grew dim! 

Was their last presence known in Peter’s prison, 

Or where exulting martyrs raised their hymn?" 

Ah! who has told us this? How know we that our paths are 

* The curious recently published Correspondence of St. Martin, and Baron Kirchberger, 
will surprise many, as showing that Spirit-communion and manifestations were common in the 
courts of Berlin and Copenhagen, even so late as near the close of the last century. 

t “ What, then, it is peremptorily required of us to answer, has become of these miracles, these 


INTRODUCTION. 


IX 


traversed only by mortal feet? Who has unpeopled the haunted 
chambers of the air, and made a desert of the ethereal spaces about 
our homes ? Oh! believe it not. Never have the sainted ones who 
have ascended from earth to heaven, ceased to descend from heaven 
to earth! If at any time it has seemed to be so, it has been we that 
have warned them off, and barred our doors against them—that have 
denied their existence, or so steeped ourselves in worldliness and 
sensuality that they could not approach or enter into loving com¬ 
munion with us. It is, as Goethe says:—“ The spirit-world is not 
closed: thy sense is closed, thy heart is dead.” One thing too we 
know, that while materialism has followed step by step in the wake 
of this cheerless negation; so it is a matter of contemporary history 
that the direct evidence of a Spirit-world and of spiritual agency which 
. recent facts have so abundantly furnished, has produced a deep con¬ 
viction—nay, certainty, of the fundamental realities of religion on 
a wider scale than any other agency of modern times. 

Writers on Natural Theology have argued that there is in all 
nature a mutual fitness of things—that from the lowest to the highest 
forms Of life, wherever God has implanted a want, He has made 
suitable provision for its gratification; and hence they infer that 
man’s religious instincts—the sense of dependence, the feeling of 
reverence, the upward aspiration, the hope which points beyond the 
grave, imply a God as the object of his supreme faith, reverence, and 
love; and an Eternal Future for the unfoldment of his capacities and 
the exercise of his powers. 

May we not carry the argument a step farther, and affirm not only 
that the individual life of man survives corporeal death, but that an 

tongues, gifts of healing, prophecies ? What, also, of the dreams, presentiments, visits of 
angels ? What of judgment falling visibly on the head of daring and sacrilegious crimes ? What 
of possessions, magic, sorcery, necromancy ? If these once were facts, why should they not be 
now ? If they are incredible now, when were they less so ? Does a fact become rational and 
possible by being carried back into other centuries of time?”— Bushnell’s Nature and the 
Supernatural. 

“The objection, that whatever in its new sphere may be the condition and powers of the freed 
spirit, it can never manifest itself to mortal organs, lies with equal force against the scriptural 
account of angel visitations, and the apparition of Samuel, The angels which John saw in his 
awful prophet-trance on Patmos, were the spirits of those who had departed from this stage of 
being.”— Whittier’s Supernaturalism of New England. 

“ If a theory be adopted everywhere else but in the Bible, excluding spiritual intervention, and 
accounting for everything physically, then will the covers of the Bible prove but pasteboard 
barriers. Such a theory will sweep its way through the Bible, and its authority, its plenary 
inspiration will be annihilated.”-Rev. Charles Beecher’s Review of the Spiritual Manifesta¬ 
tions. Read before the Congregational Association of New York and Brooklyn, 1853 


X 


INTRODUCTION. 


intimate relation, and even a sensible communion may exist between 
men embodied, and men disembodied, or between the inhabitants of 
the two worlds. The conclusion is one which not only rests upon 
specific and demonstrable grounds of experience and testimony; but 
which has, also, the same kind of evidence to support it as that 
adverted to in favour of Natural Theology. It has a similar uni¬ 
versality; it is not limited to time, place, or external conditions, but is 
co-extensive with man; or, as it has been expressed in the North 
British Review: —“A belief in spiritual existence unseen, and yet 
near to humanity, and concerned in its concerns, has been constant 
to human nature.” It may run into extravagance and abuse, and thus 
provoke re-action, and become unfashionable; and men at length 
may try to hide it away—even from themselves, and perhaps at last 
persuade themselves that they have got rid of it altogether. Vain 
effort! Yain as that of the politician “who would circumvent God.” 
There it is in them, indestructible ; if not active, latent, requiring only 
circumstances, sometimes apparently very trivial ones, to call it forth. 
The history of all nations opens with this belief. “ Every Literature 
is based upon the records of Spirit revelation and begins in absolute 
faith in such things.” Dr. Gregory remarks that:—“ The belief in 
the existence of the World of Spirits is as old as mankind; and the 
belief that men are, in certain circumstances, capable of entering into 
communication with it, is not much less venerable.” 

“There is no form of belief so deeply rooted in man’s nature, 
so widely spread over his entire history in time and space, so 
apparently necessary to his very being, as a conviction of the 
existence of an unknown and invisible world, capable of signalizing 
its presence by becoming at certain times visible and palpable. 
There is, probably, no people who have not traditions of this nature, 

—no form of religion untinctured with some such belief..All 

history speaks of this from the earliest times of which we have any 
record.”* 

“ In the early ages,” says Ennemoser, “ men were firmly con¬ 
vinced that the most perfect half, the real man, had originated in the 
World of Spirits, and that he derived from it his vital energies, being 
as little able to sever himself from its influences as the boughs from the 

tree-stem, or the stem from its roots-We find in all nations, and in 

all ages, the most deep-rooted belief, or at least a conception of such a 
relationship, and the desire of communicating with celestial beings.” 

* British Quarterly Review, October, 1862. 



INTRODUCTION. 


XI 


The New Quarterly Review, while characterizing Spiritualism as 
“ a blasphemous absurdity,” concedes that:—“ The desire of mortals 
to hold intercourse with immortality is as old as humanity. From 
the times chronicled in the Book of Genesis, to the year that has 
just had its record in the last number of the Annual Register, the 
majority of mankind, in every age and in every nation, have covertly 
or openly, confidently or doubtingly, voluntarily or involuntarily, 
believed in a World of Spirits, and in the possibility of their becoming 
j present to human sense.” Sir Walter Scott admits that—“ To the 
multitude, the indubitable fact, that so many millions of Spirits 
exist around and even amongst us, seems sufficient to support the 
belief that they are in certain instances, at least; by some means or 
other, able to communicate with the world of humanity.” 

Dr. John Campbell observes of Spirit manifestations:—“ A proud 
philosophy or impious scepticism, of course, pours contempt upon all 
such alleged facts and circumstances. That much credulity, some super¬ 
stition and delusion, and, it may be, some cunning craftiness and sel¬ 
fish imposture, may have mixed up with such things, we feel it impos¬ 
sible to deny; but that the whole shall prove delusion is more than we 
are prepared to grant. Along with the vast mass of base coin, we are 
strongly inclined to believe that there was a portion of that which was 
genuine. We see no reason for starting with it as a first principle, 
that such things are impossible, unnecessary, and therefore non¬ 
existing. We are sometimes met with the question cm bono ? We 
deny our obligation, as a condition of rational faith to prove the 
4 cui bono. It may exist where we see it not, and have important 
ends to accomplish with which we are unacquainted. We conceive, 
that what was in ages preceding those of the apostles, and what 
occurred in their days may occur again.” 

“ Religion,” says Dr. Brownson, “ always has asserted the existence 
of good and bad angels, and their intervention, on the one hand, by 
Divine command, and on the other, by Divine permission, in the 
affairs of mankind. This belief of all ages is itself a phenomenon to 
be explained and accounted for; and you will find it impossible to 
explain it, or account for it, without admitting its substantial truth. 
Men may err in supposing a supernatural or superhuman interven¬ 
tion where none takes place, and undoubtedly they have so erred 
time and again; but they could not have so erred if they had not 
already had the idea or belief of such interposition. Whence comes 
that idea or belief? If that is false, explain whence comes the 




XU 


INTRODUCTION. 


general error before the particular? A general a 'priori error is 
impossible. All error is in the misapplication of truth. A general 
error is nothing but a generalization, by way of induction, of particu¬ 
lar errors, or misapplications of truth to particulars; and is, there¬ 
fore, necessarily subsequent to them. Always is the true prior to 
the false; and how, then, could mankind come to assert a false 
supernatural interposition, if they had no prior belief in a true 
supernatural interposition; or believe in such an interposition if no 
such interposition had taken place P” 

The Rev. Horace Bushnell considers that had we “ a full, con¬ 
secutive inventory of the supernatural events or phenomena of the 
world, there is reason to suspect that many would be surprised by 
the commonness of the instances. Could they be collected and 
chronicled in their real multitude, what is now felt to be their 
strangeness would quite vanish away; and possibly they would even 
seem to recur much as in the more ancient times of the world.” 
And a little further on in the same chapter,* he gives this testi¬ 
mony :—“ Having had this great question of supernatural fact upon 
my hands now for a number of years, in a determination also to be 
concluded by no mere conventionalities, to observe, inquire, listen, 
and judge, I have been surprised to find how many things were 
coming to my knowledge and acquaintance that most persons take 
it for granted are utterly incredible, except in what they call the age 
of miracles and apostolic gifts; that is, in the first three centuries 
of the Church. Indeed, they are become so familiar, after only a few 
years of attention thus directed, and without inquiring after them, 
that their unfamiliar and strange look is gone; they even appear to 
belong, more or less commonly, to the Church and the general 
economy of the Spirit.” 

The Rev. James Smith, author of The Divine Drama of History 
and Civilization, thinks that—“ In a few brief words we may thus 
sum up the whole subject. There is a thickly-peopled spiritual 
world, between which and our own a veil is drawn by the imperfec¬ 
tion of our bodily senses ; and it is a fair and reasonable supposition 
to believe that it is possible for that veil to be withdrawn at any 
moment when it may appear fitting to the Creator of every living 
being. Therefore, when every faculty of our mind, every aspiration 
after higher and nobler things, every vision of the imagination, 
speaks of the near kindred between the noblest parts of our nature, 

* Nature and the Supernatural, Chap. xiv. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Xln 


and the inhabitants of the Spiritual World, it can be no idle, no 
vulgar indulgence of superstition, to believe that there may be a 
mysterious but no less real connection between the Spiritual World 
and ourselves; nor any ground for alarm, but rather a most soothing 
and supporting thought, that no solitude is actually a lonely or 
desolate absence of sympathising and loving beings: but that, if 
mortal friends are far away, there are always around and about us 
yet purer, nobler, and more exalted intelligences—a little higher, 
but not apart from ourselves.” 

Isaac Taylor claims that—“ At least let indulgence be given to 
the opinion that those almost universal superstitions which, in 
every age and nation have implied the fact of occasional inter¬ 
ferences of the dead with the living, ought not to be summarily 
dismissed as a mere folly of the vulgar, utterly unreal, until our 
knowledge of the Spiritual World is so complete, as shall entitle us 
to affirm that no such interferences can, in the nature of things, 
ever have taken place. The supposition of there being a universal 
persuasion totally groundless, not only in its form, and adjuncts, but in 
its substance, does violence to the principles of human reasoning, and 
clearly is of dangerous consequence .” 

Those who have undertaken to drain the human mind of this 
universal faith, in the words of Mr. Bayle St. J ohn :—“ Have set up 
their pump by the margin of an ocean, into which the rivers, and 
the torrents, and the rains of heaven are perpetually pouring in 
defiance of their puny industry; which, indeed, has nowhere to put 
what it takes away, and is compelled to send it back by other 
channels whence it came.” And Hallam, in his Literature of 
Europe, goes so far as to affirm that—“An indifference to this 
knowledge of invisible things or a premature despair of attaining 
to it, may be accounted an indication of some moral or intellectual 
deficiency, some scantiness of due proportions of mind.” 

I may here conclude these citations with the appeal of Cicero:— 
“Why, then, doubt the certainty of this argument, if reason con¬ 
sent, if facts, people, nations, Greeks, barbarians, our ancestors, and 
the universal faith ? If chief philosophers, poets, the wisest of men, 
founders of republics, builders of cities P Or, discarding the united 
consent of the human kind, shall we wait for brutes to speak P” 

Believing that Spiritualism is demonstrative of those realities 
which form the basis of religious faith; confirming the waverer, and 
silencing the sadducee and the sophist: that it brings closer home 


xiv 


INTRODUCTION. 


to the hearts and consciences of men, a conviction of their spiri¬ 
tual nature, and clearer views in relation thereto than ordinarily 
prevail; that rightly understood, it is in many ways eminently fa¬ 
vourable to religious thought, and the moral advancement of man¬ 
kind; I have in the following chapters endeavoured to confirm and 
illustrate the principles set forth in the foregoing extracts, by more 
specific reference to the facts narrated, and the views held in relation to 
Spiritual intercourse in various ages and communities; gathering 
up the scattered testimonies I have met with here and there among 
the relics of the past, and presenting, so to speak, specimens of the 
strata of different historical epochs. The light of the past, \yill I 
think, in some measure, enable us to read more clearly the facts 
of the present, and to discern the essential unity of both, and the 
increasing probability of their having a common source, whatever 
that source may be. 

It may also establish us in the conviction that Spiritualism is no 
new-fangled theory, but a fact, attested by successive ages; that it is 
not a stagnant pool, or petty rivulet, but a mighty stream, the 
father of many waters, whose course may be traced back through 
far off centuries, now diminishing, now augmenting in volume, now 
altogether lost to our sight, and anon re-appearing, till following its 
track through the ages, we reach the conviction that its source is coeval 
with Humanity; that the language which Shelley has put into 
the mouth of the Chorus of Spirits, in his Prometheus, is simply the 
expression of a literal fact— 

"From unrecorded ages we 
Gentle guides and guardians be 
Of oppressed mortality.” 

At least, let none reject this view inconsiderately, and without in¬ 
vestigation. We are placed here to learn, not to dogmatise. Ill 
does it become ignorant, presumptuous, fallible man, to sound God’s 
purposes by the line and plummet of his petty theories; or to limit 
and prescribe the means by which He shall see fit to work out the 
education and destinies of our race: rather let us endeavour to 
find out and follow them, for they remain when ours have come 
to nought. 

“ Our little systems have their day; 

They have their day and cease to be: 

They are but broken lights of Thee, 

And Thou, 0 Lord, art more than they.” 


INTRODUCTION. 


XV 


Sitting here in the shadow of great Eternity, with its images 
reflected dimly in our path; our souls listen, not altogether in vain, 
for the utterances which are wafted to us from its shores. As 
deep calleth unto deep, so spirit answereth to spirit. “ They being 
dead, yet speak.” And how eloquent beyond all power of speech, 
is this eloquence of fact. Men learned and wise in many things, may 
despise it, but it is time for us to learn—if we have not learned it— 
that it is only to those who inquire in the spirit of little children, 
that wisdom utters her oracles—that the All-Father reveals his 
mysteries, (of nature or of spirit,) and unfolds the depths of His 
infinite love. Not for purposes of barren speculation, or to minister 
to a craving for the marvellous, but because I think it adapted to 
meet and correct what seems to me certain false and mischievous 
tendencies of modern thought, and to bring men to a recognition of 
neglected truths and their important consequences, do I invite the 
reader’s serious attention to the subject of our present inquiry. 

Are we forgotten by those we love and by whom we were beloved ? 
Does death efface all memory of those once dear P Ah ! that would be 
death indeed! Or, if we still live in their remembrance, can they, under 
no circumstances, manifest to us their sympathy and presence ! Dare 
we affirm that ? Is that continuity of intercourse dear to those who 
live in a community of thought and affection, so snapt asunder that, it 
may be, a cold dreary tract of long years shall interpose ere those ties, 
abruptly broken, can, if ever, be re-united ? Is this a belief genial and 
native to the heart P Nay, rather, must not the heart be frozen ere such 
a petrifaction can be fixed in it P Of a truth, are we not all one 
family ? Hath not one God created us P Do not ancestral voices come 
to us in hours of silent meditation; in the loneliness of the heart; 
in sorrow, in bereavement P Yerily, Time, and Space, and Death, 
are not gods. The eternal world is ever around us, though our eyes 
may be holden that we know it not. 


Where are the men of heroic mould, 

Prophet and patriot, saint and sage. 

Whose thoughts and deeds so wise and bold, 
Have been handed down from age to age:— 


Leaders of men who bore the world 
Onward, through eras dark and fell,— 

Who strangled earth’s serpent-lies, and hurl’d 
Its fiends to the depths of their native hell ? 


xvi 


INTRODUCTION. 

Where are the myriad souls who trod 
This earth of ours in the days of old:— 

Who pamper’d self—or worsliipp’d God, 

Who loved and hated, and bought and sold ? 

Where! oh, where, are our dear ones fled! 

Father and mother, child and friend ? 

Where are all whom the world calls dead:— 

Can the life of the spirit he said to end ? 

Can thought, God-kindled within us, die ? 

Is our deepest love but a fleeting breath ? 

Is God’s promise within the soul a lie ? 

Are all our powers but the spoil of Death ? 

But where are the dead—in some far-off sphere. 

In some star remote—in some world above ? 

Ah, no! they are ever around us here, 

They dwell in the purple light of love. 

They guard from evil, they warn from sin, 

Prompt ev’ry generous just endeavour; 

At the open heart they enter in. 

On errands of mercy weary never. 

They whisper low by the cradle-head, 

And bring to the babe bright dreams of Heaven, 
They hover around the dying bed 
With words of comfort and sins forgiven. 


# 


THE TWO WORLDS. 


CHAPTER I. 

TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE. 

The Bible is a book for all time: one of God’s chief means in the 
education of the world. It unfolds and illustrates the princip'es 
and methods of the divine government: “ contains all things neces¬ 
sary and essential to salvation,” and is the ark of the sacred and 
precious truths of the Christian Faith. The question—“ What saith 
the Scriptures ?” is then natural and right. So far from shrinking 
from its application, I place it in the fore-front of the inquiry on 
which we are about to enter; and shall attempt very briefly, and I 
am sensible, most inadequately, but in a measure, to set forth, or at 
least indicate in outline, its facts and teachings in this respect; 
assured that “The Bible will be found to harmonize with the general 
principles of human experience in such matters in all ages. ’ 

The Bible teaches that the Creation itself is but an outbirth from 
the Divine; and, (whether we regard the narrative as literal, or as 
instructing by symbol and correspondence,) its account of the condi¬ 
tion of man in, and fall from, primeval innocence; and every successive 
step the Book records of his subsequent history, and of the marvel¬ 
lous dealings of the Divine Providence in regard to him—to the song 
of the angels over the birth of the Babe at Bethlehem, and to the 
apocalyptic vision shown by the angel of the holy city, Hew Jeru¬ 
salem ;—all is a continued manifestation of the intimate connexion and 
relation of the Two Worlds. 

Into the mysteries and glories of the temple within and beyond 
these outer manifestations, I do not presume to enter. I would 

B 



2 


TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE. 


reverently take off my shoes at the vestibule, content with a humbler, 
but perhaps not the less a useful work:—the enforcement of those rudi¬ 
mentary truths which must be fixed firmly in the mind ere it can 
entertain a thought of penetrating to these divine arcana. The 
supernatural facts of the Bible illuminate the whole past, and especi¬ 
ally do they throw a flood of light on many strange relations of 
a kindred nature, though lower degree, in past and contemporary 
history; which, in turn, illustrate and confirm the Bible narratives. 
As this becomes more and more evident, as I am satisfied, on in¬ 
vestigation, it must, it will go far to abate, if it does not eventually 
eradicate, the modern prejudice which leads many to reject the 
supernatural element which is the life of the Bible, as something 
contrary, or at least exceptional, to their experience, and to the 
general experience' of mankind. It has, indeed, already had this 
effect to a greater extent than people are generally aware. 

The Bible distinctly recognizes and insists on the reality of spiritual 
agency in human affairs. It assures us that God employs not only 
the material elements; earth, air, sea, and stormy wind fulfilling 
His word; and that He operates through human agency, our volun¬ 
tary actions still working out His purposes; but it teaches that 
“ministering spirits” are also instrumental in accomplishing His 
high behests, that they take a lively interest in man’s welfare, and 
subserve important ends in the Divine Economy in regard to him. 
This principle is in many ways distinctly enunciated and exhibited in 
both the Old and the Hew Testament, which, indeed, are mainly a 
record of divinely spiritual manifestations and teachings. Appear¬ 
ances of angels are recorded, or allusions to their ministration are to 
be found, in almost every book of the sacred volume. What, again, 
can be more clear and decided than its declarations of spiritual 
visions and Divine communications in dream and vision:—“ God 
speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth not, in a dream, in a 
vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slum- 
berings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth 
their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and 
hide pride from man.” Hosea represents God as saying, “ I have 
spoken by the Prophets, I have multiplied visions.” We read in 
Isaiah, “ And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this 
is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when 
ye turn to the left;” and in Joel, “And it shall come to pass 
afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your 


TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE. 


3 


sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream 
dreams, your young men shall see visions.” 

It is sometimes said that all this is but strong Oriental metaphor. 
Let us see—the facts of the Book will best interpret its language : 
Job tells us that, “In thoughts from the visions of the night, fear 
came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. 
Then a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. 
It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was 
before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice,” &c. 

We have visions and trances, such as those of Abraham; of Jacob, 
in which he saw the angels of God ascending and descending from 
heaven to earth; of Balaam, the son of Beor, who heard the words 
of God, saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, having 
his eyes open; of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning 
Judah and Jerusalem; of Ezekiel the Priest, by the river Chebar, 
when the heavens were opened, and he saw visions of God; of 
Daniel, in the palace of Shushan, and by the great river Hiddekel; 
of Peter, at Joppa, who, when he had gone upon the house-top to 
pray, fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened; of Paul, who was in 
a trance while praying in the Temple at Jerusalem; of John the 
Divine, “ in the Isle that is called Patmos,” and who was commanded 
by a voice from the heavens, “ What thou seest write in a book:” 
and who, at the conclusion of his Apocalpyse, tells us, “And I John 
saw and heard these things.” 

Seership, in the earlier periods of Hebrew history, was a distinctive 
and honourable office—thus, we have “Iddo, the Seer;” “Gad, the 
King’s Seer;” “Jedushun, the King’s Seer;” and many more, 
whose sayings were written down and placed in the Jewish archives. 
We read of the time of Samuel, “ He that is now called a Prophet, 
was before-time called a Seer;” and that, “ The word of the Lord was 
precious in those days, there was no open vision;” or, as De Witte 
translates it, “The Word of the Lord was rare, in those days visions 
were not frequent;” as though this was exceptional, a consequence 
of the greater worldliness and corruption of that time. 

Of spiritual apparitions, it may be sufficient to refer to that of 
Samuel the Prophet, who spoke to Saul, and foretold the impending 
fate of the King and of his sons. 

That spirits are dominant over matter, is clearly implied in such 
narratives as those of the Angel who delivered Peter out of prison; 
of the Angel who rolled away the stone from the door of the 

B 2 


4 


TESTIMONY OF SCULPTURE. 


sepulchre; of the Apostle Phillip, whom “the spirit of the Lord 
caught away” and bore from Gaza to Azotus; and of Ezekiel’s 
experiences, which, with many other attendant circumstances of 
spiritual operation, he thus relates:—“ And the Spirit entered into 
me, when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet that I heard 
him that spake unto me. . . . Then the Spirit took me up, and 
I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing. So the Spirit lifted 
me up, and took me away. . . . And it came to pass in the sixth 
year, of the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in 
mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of 
the Lord God fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and lo, a likeness 
as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins even 
downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance 
of brightness, as the colour of amber. And he put forth the form of 
an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head, and the Spirit lifted 
me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the 
visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate, that 
looketh toward the north.”* 

Besides these instances, so circumstantially related, and others of 
a like kind with which the Scriptures abound, exemplifying various 
modes of spirit influx and operation, there is the long series of 
miracle, prophecy, and revelation, running through, and indissolubly 
blended with the sacred history ;f and the varied “ spiritual gifts” 
concerning which St. Paul, writing to the Church of Corinth, says, 
“ I would not have you ignorant.” 

If the Bible reveals to us a spiritualism within the Divine order, 
it is equally explicit as to the existence of a realm of spiritual powers, 
fighting against that order, seeking to subvert it, and to bring the 
spirits of men into subjection to their will. As our globe moves 
through space, surrounded and pervaded by its atmosphere, so, but 
far more intimately, does our human world move, surrounded, per¬ 
vaded, and infilled by the atmospheres and influences of the spirit- 
world :—a world with its respective kingdoms of light and darkness, 
between which, man is placed here to work out his destiny; and 
according to his affections and life, so is his soul open more and more 

* So, in the Apocryphal chapter said to he cut off from the Book of Daniel, it is related of a 
prophet called Ilabbacuc, that the Angel of the Lord bare him by the hair of liis head from 
Jerusalem to Babylon. 

t I hare reserved the question of the methods of Divine revelation for separate discussion. 
See Appendix A. 


5 


THE LAW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OF THE NEW. 

interiorly to their influx. This teaching of the Bible is confirmed by 
every fact bearing on it in human experience. 

The Bible mode of treating these subjects, and the Bible language 
concerning them, are very different to those of the present time: there 
is no apology offered for them, no attempt to reconcile them with 
science and “ the march of intellect,” no learned theorising, no formal 
array of proof: they are narrated with the same simple brevity as 
the ordinary facts with which they are interwoven. This is very 
significant: it shows that no such impassable barrier as we now 
suppose separates the dwellers in the spiritual spheres from the 
denizens of earth, was then considered to exist. It was not re¬ 
garded as a thing incredible that they might meet and converse as 
friends; it was the common belief that this was permitted; that it did 
occur. Whatever else, and beyond this, the Bible may establish, it 
does testify to this as a fact of history; and its testimony is confirmed 
by other Jewish writings, such as those of the Apocrypha, and of 
Josephus. On the ground of Spiritualism, the near and the far 
meet together, the present and the past kiss each other. 


CHAPTER II. 

THE LAW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OF THE NEW. 

It is said by some, “ Yes! the Bible does indeed recognize spirit- 
intercourse with men as a fact, not as a mere pretence or delusion, 
but it brands these spirits as evil: possibly it was by their aid that 
Jannes and Jambres the magicians who withstood Moses, worked 
those wonders which hardened Pharoah’s heart;—that the witch of 
Endor called up the spirit of one of Israel’s prophets at the bidding 
of an impious king. It is distinctly asserted that it was an evil 
spirit which troubled, or, (as it is expressed in the marginal reading) 
terrified Saul; and, that it was an evil, lying spirit who deceived 
Ahab by the mouths of his prophets; Micaiah, previous to their 
obsession, having seen the evil spirit and heard him speak. Yes! 
the Bible recognizes this intercourse of men with spirits; but only 
as a subject for warning and denunciation. In the Old Testament it 
i3 prohibited under penalty of death; and in the New, the Gospel 
narratives sufficiently indicate what manner of spirits they were who 
manifested their power in those days.” 



6 


THE LAW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OF THE NEW. 


The testimony of the Bible is indeed conclusive against those who 
altogether deny the agency of evil spirits; but it falls far short of 
establishing the conclusion that all spirits who come into communi¬ 
cation with man are to be placed in this category. Both the Old and 
the New Testament, I think, teach the reverse. Sir Walter Scott 
emphatically observes:—“No man can read the Bible, or call 
himself a Christian without believing that, during the course of 
time comprehended by the divine writers, the Deity, to confirm 
the faith of the Jews, and to overcome and confound the pride 
of the heathens, wrought in the land many greab miracles, using 
either good spirits, the instruments of His pleasure, or fallen angels, 
the permitted agents of such evil as it was His will should be inflicted 
upon, or suffered by, the children of men. This proposition com¬ 
prehends, of course, the acknowledgement of the truth of miracles 
during this early period, by which the ordinary laws of nature were 
suspended, and recognizes the existence in the spiritual world of 
the two grand divisions of angels and devils, severally exercising 
their powers according to the commission or permission of the ruler 
of the universe.” 

Those who question or deny the lawfulness of spirit-communion 
on grounds deduced from Scripture, rest their objections mainly on 
the prohibitions in the Mosaic code. But surely it is by no means 
self-evident that we are now under these prohibitions, that they 
apply to us and to all time. Do we not in fact practically ignore 
many of them, such as those which forbad the eating of hare, swine, 
or any kind of fat—the wearing garments of mingled linen and 
woollen—and the lighting of fires on the sabbath day? Do we now 
stone sabbath-breakers, burn witches, and enforce the penalties of 
an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth ? Do we not, in fine, feel 
that we are justified in doing many things which the Jewish law 
interdicted, and in not doing many things which it enjoined? To 
prove that any prohibition of that law is binding on Christians, it 
needs to be shown that the original ground of obligation still exists, 
that it was not in any way dependant upon considerations of time, 
place, and circumstance, but that (like the Moral Law of the Ten 
Commandments) it was permanent and universal. Let us, then, 
endeavour to ascertain the nature and ground of this particular pro¬ 
hibition to the Jewish people. 

In this inquiry we must bear in mind that the Bible represents 
the Jews as a peculiar people, immediately, and as it were, visibly, 


THE’’LAW OP THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OF THE NEW. 7 

under the Divine Government, called out to protest against the 
universal idolatry of the polytheistic nations by whom they were sur¬ 
rounded, and to be to all the earth a witness for the one living and 
true God. All their institutions, laws, and observances, had re¬ 
ference primarily to this end, and in many cases are scarce intelligi¬ 
ble unless considered in this relation. Keeping this steadily in 
view, let us ask, what was the idolatry against which they were 
called upon to bear this emphatic testimony? Whence did it 
originate? How was it sustained? It is necessary to arrive at a 
right understanding of these questions before we can form a correct 
judgment upon the subject of our present inquiry. 

I shall not propound a theory of my own; I am quite content to 
take the exposition given by perhaps, the most learned and able 
opponent of the current spiritual manifestations on the ground of 
their alleged evil character and anti-scriptural teachings,—the Rev. 
Chaeles Beeciiee ; who, in a Review of the Spiritual Manifestations> 
read before the Congregational Association of New York and, 
Brooklyn; in his chapter, “ On the teachings of the Bible,” thus 
sums up his argument on this head:— 

“Both the law and the history therefore concede the reality of 
the practice doomed with death, and the reason of the penalty is 
manifest. Polytheism was the disease to be cauterised. The worship 
of the dead was the root of Polytheism. Converse with the dead 
was the root of worship. Odylic arts” ( i.e . the understanding and 
supply of proper conditions) “ were the root of converse. Therefore 
the law struck at the root, by prohibiting the whole on pain of 
death.” “ The Baalim” of the Old Testament, he tells us “ were lords, 
heroes, deified dead men. Hence it is said 4 They joined themselves 
unto Baal Peor, they ate the sacrifices of the dead; —the two lines of 
the parallelism repeating the same idea in a different form;” and, he 
adds, it was to these “ deified dead men,” to whom, as testified by 
Moses and the Psalmist, “they sacrificed their sons and their 
daughters.”* Need we wonder then that when consulting the dead 
fostered these idolatrous and inhuman practices, that, to cut them 
off* the more completely from such dangers, and from those who 
practised these arts, using them for evil purposes, they should be 

* This view seems to derive confirmation from the language of St. Paul, though spoken of a 
later age“ But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and 
not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.” (L e. demons , in this 
pi ace, evil spirits.) 


8 


THE LAW OE THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OF THE NEW. 


wholly interdicted to the Jews; especially if we bear in mind that 
spiritual and divine guidance was otherwise vouchsafed them * We 
are told that when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered 
him not, “ neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” These 
being then the authorised and divinely appointed means of spiritual 
communication. To depart from these and inquire after the manner 
of the heathen, therefore not only implied in itself a tendency to 
idolatry, but was an open disobedience to the command of their 
Divine King; an act of rebellion against Him. Hence it is said 
“ The sin of rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” The sin of both 
consisting in casting off that allegiance which they owed to Jehovah, 
their rightful sovereign. 

If the circumstances of this, or of any age, are in these respects 
those of the ancient Jews—if its tendency and temptation is to deify 
its dead, to worship and sacrifice to some Baal and Dagon, Gog and 
Magog;—in the words of Mr. Beecher, “If the mental attitude is 
essentially like that of the old devotee, idolatrous and contamin¬ 
ating;” then, undoubtedly, it is subject to the same condemnation 
and prohibition. But something more is necessary to prove this 
than the bare averment that,—“ From the character of the spirits next 
behind the veil, and the very conditions necessary to obtain com¬ 
munications, such idolatrous contamination is inevitable.” So far 
from “ submission to unseen guidance” being, as Mr. Beecher 
affirms, the necessary “ mental attitude” of spiritual communion, it 
is an attitude which according to all testimony, spirits discoun¬ 
tenance, and which spiritualists for themselves certainly disavow; 
insisting upon the necessity of, and making constant appeals to, the 
reason, conscience, and voluntary agency which God has given us, 
and which constitute our true humanity, and stamps it with the 
Divine image.f In the views of religion and philosophy to which 
it leads, they maintain its inevitable tendency is to— 

Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, 

And welcome hack again discarded faith, 

to withdraw the soul from the idolatries of sense, from mere nature 

* Rnobel observes on, or rather, thus paraphrases Deuteronomy xvm. 15—18, “ While other 
nations have had recourse to magicians and astrologers, Jehovah has not allowed this to IsraeL 
Rather, he will awaken, cause to come forth, out of the midst of Israel, out of his brethren. 
Prophets, and them shall Israel hear—Prophets, such as I am, who receive revelations from 
Jehovah, to declare them to the people.” 

t “ They ask no blind faith in their identity, or in their doctrines; they inculcate love to God and 
love to our race as the governing principle of life on earth and life in the spheres, and yet they 


THE LAW OP THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OP THE NEW. 


9 


worship and mammon worship, and to quicken the spiritual nature 
by bringing home to its consciousness the reality, nearness and 
transcendant importance of the spiritual world, and thus filling it 
with a sense of the deep significance, responsibilities, and issues 
of life. 

That the Jewish law was not intended or understood as an inter¬ 
dict on the great privilege of intercourse' with the higher world, is 
evident from the example of the promulgator of that law, and of the 
Hebrew prophets. As remarked by Mr. Newton, “If the prohibi¬ 
tion given through Moses, included good as well as evil (spirits) 
then they were trangressed by Moses himself, for did he not talk 
with the ‘ angel at the bush ?’ and did he not receive the law ‘ by the 
ministration of angels’ spending forty days with them on the mount ? 
It was transgressed also by Samuel, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, 
and doubtless all the prophets, for do they not describe their inter¬ 
views with spiritual beings, sometimes terming them ‘men,’ and 
again ‘angels of the Lord?’”* Surely the Christian dispensation 
is one not of less, but of greater privileges than that accorded to the 
Jews. 

If a further and final argument were needed, it would be found in 
the fact that Christ himself, in presence of his disciples, held inter¬ 
course with the spirits of the departed, and that one of the spirits 
who conversed with him was Moses, the promulgator of the law of 
spiritual prohibition. What more complete demonstration that this 
law was abrogated could possibly be given? “For why were they 
there conversing with Christ?” asks the Rev. C. H. Harvey, 
“ Surely not to give him information or encouragement, for this he 
received from a higher source. Why, then, were they there ? May 

have left it to our unbiassed judgment whether they have told truth or falsehood.”— Spiritualism. 
Dr. Dextkr’s Introduction. 

“There was never yet, I venture to say, a religious creed promulgated among men, which so 
entirely eschewed blind faith, and so fully and always demanded the exercise of the judgment and 
the supremacy of the reason.” — Ibid. Judge Edmonds’s Introduction. 

“They have insisted that we submit all our instructions to the test of our own powers, as 
enlightened by the Word and the Spirit of God; charging us to receive nothing until it should 
commend itself to our highest intellectual and moral perceptions as both true and good.” The 
Ministry of Angels Realized. By A. E. Newton. 

“ You are no more obliged to receive a tenet, or an opinion, or a statement, or a prediction, or a 
promise, or a prescription of duty, or a direction how to act in a given case from a departed spirit, 
than from an wndeparted one. Are we not all spirits ? Have we not all a common nature ? Do 
not all spirits differ in degrees of wisdom and goodness?”— Spirit-Manifestations. By the Rev, 
Adin Ballou. 

* Ministry of Angels Realized. 


10 


THE LAW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OF THE NEW. 


it not have been to type the privilege of his Church in the latter 
days, and the assistance that they should have in their efforts to 
evangelize the world.” 

Bishop Porteus, in a sermon on the Transfiguration, points out 
that it was :—“ To signify in a figurative manner the cessation of the 
Jewish and the commencement of the Christian dispensation, for 
Moses and Elias must certainly be allowed to be the very natural 
and proper representatives of the prophets.” And he concludes that— 

“ Since it was one of the chief purposes of the Christian revelation 
to bring life and immortality to light, no wonder that God should 
graciously condescend to confirm these great truths to us in so 
many ways, by words and by visions, by prophecies, by miracles, 
and by celestial visions.” 

'•Jf converse with spirits of the just is contrary to the Divine Law, 
would Christ have practised it—taking with him as witnesses, Peter, 
James, and John, that the fact might be attested to all time? With 
His example before us, need the most tender conscience scruple as 
to the lawfulness of the communion with saints..?- 

In the words of Professor Bbittan :—“ If there is anything in¬ 
trinsically wrong, or necessarily injurious in the intercourse itself, 
we desire to know in what that wrong or injury is made to consist. 
We were formerly on terms of familiar converse with our friends 
while they were in the body, and we expect to renew that intercourse 
hereafter. Their society was once precious, and if their affinity for 
ns wins them, at times, from their bright abode, and they become 
our guardians, shall we be required to dishonour their memory, to 
turn coldly away, or to spurn them from our presence? Hay ! But if 
the Creator has so fashioned our souls and determined our relations, 
that the same intercourse may be now enjoyed—to assure us of the 
future life, and to encourage us to faithfulness in the present— the 
man who can denounce this communion as a device of Satan, forfeits 
his right to the sacred privilege, and boldly arraigns the wisdom of 
Providence.* 


Note. Considerable opprobrium is thrown upon Spiritualists 
by confounding them with Necromancers, Wizards, &c. Let us 
see whether these terms fairly apply to them. Bobinson uses the 
term, Necromancer, as synonomous with—“ A sorcerer, a conjuror, 
who professes to call up the dead by means of incantations and 

* A Review of Reverend Charles Beecher's Report concerning Spiritual Manifestations. 



THE LAW OE THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OE THE NEW. 11 

magic formulas, in order that he may give response to future things. 
Webster defines Necromancer as—“ 1. Properly. One who pretends to 
fore-tell future events by holding converse with departed spirits. 
2. The more usual sense. One who uses enchantments or practices 
sorcery.” This last word again he uses as synonomous with—“ Witch¬ 
craft : divination by the assistance of evil spirits.” Following up 
our inquiry, let us ask in what Witchcraft consisted, borrowing our 
light in this instance from Bishop Hay and the Encyclopaedia Me¬ 
tropolitans. The former tells us“ Witchcraft and Sorcery pro¬ 
perly signify the being in compact with wicked spirits, and having 
a personal familiar intercourse with them.” The latter authority 
informs us:—“The ancient Witch was generally only a dealer in 
spells, amulets, poisons, and incantations, to which character the 
profession of fortune-telling has been found annexed from the 
earliest ages. Against such the punishment of death was probably 
denounced by Moses not merely because witches were cheats, who 
practiced on the credulity of mankind, but still more, because they 
insulted the majesty of the true God, by pretending to the power 
of divination, and because they corrupted the people by introducing 
practices borrowed from idolatrous nations. In fact all the de¬ 
nunciations against witchcraft and enchantment, in the Old Tes¬ 
tament, are combined with condemnation of idolatrous practices. 
The modern Witch was a very different character; in addition to 
the power of prediction, she claimed that of working evil upon the 
life, limbs, and fortunes of her neighbours. This power, it was 
vulgarly believed, was acquired by an expressed compact, sealed 
with her blood, concluded between her and the devil himself. By 
the terms of the bond it was understood that the Wizard or Witch 
renonunced the sacrament of baptism, and after a certain term of 
years, devoted his or her immortal soul to the evil one without 
power of redemption.” 

In the name of common sense, what identity is there between 
Necromancers and Wizards ancient or modern as above defined, 
and modern Spiritualists? Can any sane person be found hardy 
enough to assert, or silly enough to believe, that Spiritualists, or 
Spirit-mediums, are fortune-tellers, poisoners, dealers in spells and 
amulets, that they practise incantations and magic formulas, that 
they claim a power of working ill upon the life, limbs and fortunes 
of their neighbours, or that they make a compact with the devil and 
seal it with their blood ? And yet, men who ought to know better. 


12 


THE DEMONIACS. 


avail themselves of popular prejudices by this misapplication of 
words. According to the view above quoted, the spirit was always 
a medium for the wizard. In the modern manifestations which 
Spiritualists recognize, and the laws of which they seek to under¬ 
stand, a mortal is the medium of the spirit. The difference is a 
radical one. 


CHAPTER III. 

THE DEMONIACS. 

In considering the case of the demoniacs of the Hew Testament, 
we must bear in mind that the word devils in our translation, means 
simply dcemons, or spirits, and although the spirits were evil, the 
word has no such necessary signification, nor was it then only so 
understood; they might be either celestial or terrestrial, good or 
evil. Thus Plato says “ When good men die they obtain honour, 
and become dcemons.” And according to Hesiod, when the men of 
the golden age died and became dcemons, the change was deemed an 
“ honourable promotion.” So also the Epicurean and Stoic philoso¬ 
phers who encountered Paul at Athens, said of him because he 
preached Jesus and the resurrection :—“ He seemeth to be a setter 
forth of strange gods,” literally of strange dcemons. It is only 
church usage which has since caused the word to be employed in an 
exclusively evil sense. Some biblical critics have maintained, 
that the daemons of the Hew Testament were not even human, but 
an order of spiritual beings distinct from man. How although it is 
readily conceivable that other orders of spiritual beings of varying 
quality, may exist, and come into communication with men; yet I 
think there is here no proof of this being so, it seems more reasonable 
to believe that they were spirits of evil men lingering about the 
scenes of their earthly life; and who, having once possessed animal 
corporeity, still retained special adaptation and strong appetency 
thereto, as that through which they had heretofore gratified those 
passions and propensities which they had allowed to dominate over 
them. 

Again, there are not wanting, even among the orthodox, those 
who would fain persuade us, that these demoniacs were simply 



THE DEMONIACS. 


13 


epileptic, or insane persons. Such an explanation seems to me as 
feasible as that of the German critic who explains that Satan showed 
Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them—“ in a 
map” Doubtless, nervous maladies, especially such as result from 
sensual indulgence, would open the door and facilitate the entrance 
of these powers of darkness; upon the existing stratum of disease 
they would more readily super-induce the deeper spiritual evil; 
but their fellow-countrymen did not confound possession with 
madness, or bodily disease, though one might frequently accompany 
the other; and the careful reader of the New Testament will perceive 
that its writers at once mark the relation and the difference; while 
Jesus not only recognizes the evil spirits as such, but discriminates 
between their several kinds. One He addresses as a “ deaf and dumb 
spiritof another He says “ This kind goeth not out but by prayer 
and fastingand He distinctly differences the personality of the 
possessing spirit, and of the possessed man. “ Hold thy peace and 
come out of him” was his command to the former;” the Evangelist 
adds, “and he came out.” On another occasion, the spirits at 
command, came out of the possessed man, and, at their own request, 
were permitted to enter into a herd of swine, who forthwith “ ran 
violently down a steep place into the sea, and were choked in the sea.” 
Are we to believe that these swine, (we are told that there were about 
two thousand) acted thus because just at that time they suddenly be¬ 
came epileptic or insane P We find, too, that while the evil spirits ac¬ 
knowledged and obeyed the authority of Jesus and His Apostles ; they 
despised, maltreated, and overcame “ certain vagabond Jews,” impos¬ 
tors and pretenders to it. 

Nor is the language Jesus employs to the demoniacs to be ex¬ 
plained by the unworthy suppositon, that He fell in with and 
humoured their notions to facilitate their cure; (a mode of treatment 
by the way which in cases of insanity the most experienced phy¬ 
sicians now repudiate), for He uses the same language in confidential 
discourse with his disciples. Besides, the error, if error it were, 
was not, merely one of language, (as we may now speak of certain 
forms of madness as ‘lunacy,’ without implying a belief in the 
theory in which the term originated), but an active error of thought 
as well as of speech. It was as if a physician should now address 
the moon, bidding it not to harm his patient; thus directly counten¬ 
ancing superstition and delusion. On the supposition of Jesus 
having to deal only with certain forms of hallucination and disease, 


14 


THE DEMONIACS. 


He must in this matter, have been either a deceiver, or deceived. 
I see no other alternative. One can understand, how this feature 
of the gospel narratives may be a stumbling block to men’s accept¬ 
ance of them; but it is difficult to understand how those who do 
accept them, can fail to see that which appears so legibly written 
on their pages. Concerning the Bible testimony to the reality of 
demoniacal possession, Isaac Taylor tersely remarks that—“The 
gospel narratives, in these instances, are of a kind not to be dis¬ 
posed of by the hypothesis of accommodation; but are of a plain 
historical complexion, such as that if they are rejected as untrue, we 
are bound to withdraw our confidence altogether from the reporters, 
as competent and trustworthy witnesses of facts.” 

Archbishop Trench, in his Notes on the Miracles, observes:— 
“ The phenomena which the demoniacs of Scripture exhibit, entirely 
justify this view of the real presence of anpther will upon the will of 
the sufferer.” In reply to the objection:—“ How comes it to pass 
that there are no demoniacs now ? that they have wholly disappeared 
from the world?” He replies:—“The assumption that there are 
none, is itself otie demanding to be proved.” He reminds us that 
physicians of high note, such as Esquirol, recognize demoniacs now. 
The Reverend F. D. Maurice, in Tracts for Priests and People , 
confesses—“ The demonology of our times has supplied me with a 
luminous commentary on the evangelical narratives.” 

In the Apostolic writings we find further testimony of the exis¬ 
tence of living, invisible spiritual powers, against whom the Apostles 
felt that they and their fellow-christians were called upon to 
struggle. St. Paul says:—“ We wrestle not against flesh and blood, 
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the 
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, (or, as it is in 
the margin), wicked spirits, in high places ;” and he warns against 
V giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of dcemons.” And 
the writer of the Apocalpyse speaks of “ spirits of daemons working 
miracles.” 

That this belief was an element in the Jewish mind in the time of 
Christ, and also prior and subsequent thereto, is further evident from 
the language which the Jews in their blindness addressed to Jesus:_ 

Now we know that thou hast a devil:”—from the Apocrypha, as in the 
story of the evil spirit Asmodeus, in the Book of Tobit, and from 
Josephus, who, in his Wars of the Jews (Book vm c. 6) expressly 
tells us—“ Those called demons, are no other than the spirits of the 


THE DEMONIACS. 


15 


wicked, that enter into men that are alive, and kill them, unless 
they can obtain some help against them.” And again, speaking of 
Solomon, he says:—“ God also enabled him to learn that skill 
which expels demons, which is a science useful and sanative to man. 
And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which 
they drive away demons so that they never return; and this method 
of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man 
of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that 
were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his 
captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers.” ( Antiquities , 
Book viii., chap. 2.) 

The supposition then, that these afflictions were only a form of 
bodily or mental disease, or of both combined, is contrary to the whole 
weight of evidence—to the general belief alike of the pre-christian 
era, of the day in which Christ lived, and of subsequent times; for 
it may be added, this belief of demoniacal possession, was so strongly 
held by the Christian Fathers and the Primitive Church, that a 
special order of exorcists was appointed within the Church from an 
early period, which has been continued in the Bomish Church, and 
I believe in the Greek Church also, to this day. Luther, in common 
with many other of the Protestant Beformers, went great lengths 
on this point; he bluntly stigmatized as “ ignorant blockheads,” the 
physicians who attribute all disorders of mind and body to the 
operation of natural causes. The Anglican church in the reign of 
Edward the Sixth recognized exorcism in the form of Baptism ap¬ 
pointed in its Liturgy. And somewhat later, the Puritans claimed 
this power of exorcism, and struggled hard to obtain a service for 
exorcism in the English Liturgy. The Journals of Wesley, and the 
early Methodist Magazines, contain abundant evidence of this belief, 
which Wesley and his disciples held in common with many of our ear¬ 
lier statesmen, judges, philosophers and divines. Nor is this belief now, 
nor has it ever been wholly extinct in the Christian Church. That an 
almost total incredulity concerning it prevails, extending even 
to the facts recorded in the books the Church professes to hold 
sacred, is I think attributable to that materialism which has grown 
up, especially in our schools of medicine and philosophy—as conse¬ 
quent upon the re-action from the ignorant superstitions of the six¬ 
teenth and seventeenth centuries, and the atrocities perpetrated 
under their influence;—to the teachings of the encyclopaedists of the 
eighteenth century;—and to the engrossing application to physical 


16 


THE DEMONIACS. 


science and material pursuits, which distinguishes our own age, and 
which has generated a tendency to scepticism concerning whatever is 
not susceptible of sensuous or mathematical demonstration. 

Happily, however, this tendency seems to have now reached its 
turning point: through a deeper knowledge of science, men are 
beginning to recognize as spiritual the primary forces which ultimate 
themselves in material forms. 

Dr. Schtjbneb, of Munich, tells us that, Patients afflicted with 
disturbances of the soul are but seldom influenced by physical 
means;” and until spiritual laws are more fully investigated, and 
better understood, we shall never know how far disease is of spiritual 
origin—either from evil spirit possession, or from disturbance of the 
due equilibrium between the spiritual and vital forces, resulting in 
that disorderly action we call disease, or insanity; and which for its 
proper treatment may require another chemistry than that of the 

wicked, malevolent men, we know too well; and 
that there are wicked, malevolent spirits, the Bible undeniably affirms; 
but were we to regard the Newgate Calendar as the History of Eng¬ 
land, we should only commit the same kind of mistake that we make 
when we confound the doings of the turbulent and evil in spirit-life, 
who violate the Divine law, with the action of those who, in obedience 
to that law, fulfil the ministration which Providence has assigned them 
as a universal duty, and the execution of which is the very delight of 
Heaven. The Bible clearly marks the distinction and the difference. 
It speaks of lying, tempting, seducing spirits; but it also tells us of 
the Angel of the Lord which encampeth about them that fear Him, 
and delivereth them; and of the Angels who have charge to keep us 
in all our ways. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of 
their ancestors who died in faith as a great cloud of witnesses 
compassing them about. And again, concerning the heavenly mes¬ 
sengers, he asks:—“ Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth 
(i. e. divinely commissioned) to minister to those who shall be heirs 
of salvation? St. John warns us to “Try the spirits whether they 
are of Godand the writer of the Apocalypse tells us that when he 
fell down to worship before the feet of the revealing angel, the angel 
said unto him:—“ See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, and 
of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of 
this book, worship God,” 

And are we to believe that these our brethren and fellow- servants 


pharmacopoeia. 
That there are 



THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


17 


are now tired of this labour of love ? or, that since the Apostle closed 
his earthly labours, God has established a new law—one which allows 
the false and corrupt dwellers in the spirit-world to deceive, and 
tempt, and lure us to destruction; while the “ bright ministers of God 
and Grace” are by it forbidden all approach—forbidden to warn, to 
teach, to guide, to console us ? 0 shame, that even in thought we 

should so malign the loving Father by whom the very hairs of 
our head are all numbered! 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 

In the earlier ages of the world, men’s conceptions of and belief in 
spiritual things were more clear and undoubting than in later times; 
their natural instincts were to them all-sufficient, they had no need 
to test their divine intuitions by logical formulae; communion with 
the spiritual world was not to them a matter for scoffing and con¬ 
tempt; they may have been ignorant of much that we know, but 
they had not closed the eye of the soul, or refused to listen to the 
wisdom of the spheres; in their simple, reverent faith, they had not 
learned to doubt the reality of a surrounding spiritual world, and its 
intimate relations with this, God’s visible and intelligent universe. 

“It appears to have been almost universally held, in the most 
ancient times, that mankind were placed in intimate connection with 
a super-sensible world, which was governed by the antagonist powers 
of a good and an evil principle; and that this connection between the 
sensible and the super-sensible worlds was indirectly maintained 
through the means of intermediate agents, who were always ready to 
present their services at the summons of their respective votaries.”* 

We find evidence of this in the most ancient records extant of the 
history, traditions, and institutions of the primitive races of man¬ 
kind. We have seen it in the inspired Hebrew writings, and it 
may be further illustrated from the Hindoo sacred books—books 
confessedly “the oldest collection of writings extant in any Indo- 
European tongue.”f The whole contents of these books, (the Vedas) 
are regarded as direct revelations of inspired Seers. According to 

* Colquhon’s History of Magic, 8 fC . Vol. I. 

+ Kelli’s Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition. 



18 


THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


the Hindoo philosophy thence derived, and prevalent from time 
immemorial, the inward sight, or spiritual vision, is the highest 
good to which man can attain on earth. The seers receive their 
inspirations from heavenly spirits, and from God himself, with whom 
their souls communicate in the trance. That which the soul sees 
and hears in its trances, is the highest attainable knowledge—an 
evident revelation, the law of life. Our waking state in the outer 
world of the senses is no true being, ignorance and folly being 
predominant, owing to the influence of matter and the desire of 
worldly goods. Trance reveals the true light of knowledge: it is 
the opening of the inner eye, and the true waking is the vision 
of light invisible to the common eye, but_revealing the true spiritual 
reality from circumference to centre. Purity, abstemiousness, in¬ 
ward contemplation, with freedom from all disturbing influences, 
prayer, and entire resignation to the will of God, are regarded as the 
means by which, in vision, trance, and ecstacy, man may attain to the 
highest wisdom through communion with the spirit-workjhJlt may be 
added that the Brahmins have long been adepts in vital magnetism, and 
believe that they receive from spirits effectual aid in the cure of disease. 

Egypt, from the earliest times, has been famed as the land of 
occult arts. The Chevalier Marsham has contended that these arts 
spread from thence to the surrounding nations—Assyrians, Baby¬ 
lonians, Persians, Greeks. But though its people evidently attained 
to a considerable proficiency in art, and in some respects, to a high 
state of civilization, and have largely influenced the subsequent 
destinies of the world; very little of an authentic nature is now 
known concerning them; and especially is this so in relation to their 
inner life, to their religious and philosophical speculations and 
beliefs. Their language, for ages lost, is even now only partially 
restored. Theology, philosophy, and science, so far as known 
to them, seem to have been almost, if not altogether exclusively, 
the possession and study of their learned or priestly caste, 
who thought it a kind of profanation to submit their mysteries 
to the familiar and unhallowed gaze of the vulgar; from them they 
were carefully withheld, or revealed only in symbol, the esoteric 
meanings of which they at best but dimly comprehended. 

“ The wise men of Egypt were secret as dummies, 

And e’en when they most condescended to teach. 

They packed up their meaning, as they did their mummies, 

Ip so many wrappers, 'twas out of one’s reach.” 


THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


19 


Probably, too, as Mr. Colquhon contends, much of tbeir mysteries 
and tbeir power consisted in mesmeric practices, and they may have 
entertained a not unreasonable apprehension of consequences if these 
were in the hands of ignorant, unskilful, profane, and evil men. 
However this may have been, we glean from various notices and 
allusions in the Bible and other ancient writings, and from their 
own antiquities, that they had their oracles, that they studied 
astrology, cultivated magic,* practised soothsaying and various arts 
of divination, and were familiar with zoo-magnetism and clairvoyance. 
Some of the traditions of this people that have been handed down 
to us are interesting and pertinent to our inquiry. Thus, Herodotus 
tells us that the Priests of Egypt after pointing out to him the 
images of the successive High Priests, informed him—“That indeed 
before the time of these men, Gods had been the rulers of Egypt, and 
had dwelt amongst men.” Brucker says that their magic “con¬ 
sisted in the performance of certain religious ceremonies or incanta¬ 
tions, which were supposed, through the interposition of good 
daemons, to produce supernatural effects.” These things may suf¬ 
ficiently indicate their belief in a surrounding world of spirits, whose 
ministrations might be evoked. It is very generally agreed that 
much of the theurgy and theosophy of Egypt were inherited by the 
Greeks, though modified doubtless by their peculiar characteristics, 
and the different aspects which outward nature presented to them. 
Many of their most celebrated philosophers travelled thither as to the 
chief fountain of ancient wisdom, and drank deeply of its waters. 
Pythagoras is said to have spent twenty-two years there in gaining that 
occult knowledge for which Egypt was famed. It is, then, in the study 

* The Magi were the learned and wise men—the depositories of all the knowledge, secular and 
sacred, of their time—its philosophers, physicians, priests, and prophets; and though the order 
became corrupt, and their knowledge was applied to the goetic or base magic, this was a 
perversion of the original. Cudworth cites Plato and Porphyry in proof that magic was first 
employed in a good and religious sense:—“And,” he adds, “as magic is commonly conceived to 
be founded in a certain vital sympathy that is in the universe, so did these ancient Persian Magi 
and Chaldeans (as Psellus tells us) suppose ‘ that there was a sympathy between the superior and 
inferior beingsbut it seems the only way by them at first approved of attracting the influence 
of those superior invisible powers, M'as by piety, devotion, and religious rites.” 

Taylor, in his Notes to Pausanias, observes:—“ He whose intellectual eye is strong enough t 
perceive that all things sympathize with all, will be convinced that the magic, cultivated by the 
ancient philosophers, is founded on a theory no less sublime than rational and true. Such a one 
will consider, as Plotinus observes, the nature of soul as everywhere easy to be attracted, when a 
proper subject is at hand which is easily passive to its influence.” 

The reader of the New Testament will remember that it was the Magi, or “wise men from 
the East,” who first recognized, and brought their offerings to the Infant of Bethlehem. 

c 2 


20 


THE OftACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


of the Religion, Philosophy, and History of Greece and Rome, (espe¬ 
cially of the former, for what Egypt was to Greece, that was Greece to 
Rome) that we shall best discern the tnind of the ancient world—what it 
thought of the relations between the visible and the invisible—the 
world of spirits, and the world of mortals. Indeed, apart from the 
sacred writings, it is not till this era that much clear insight into the 
matter can be obtained, as it is not till then that authentic history 
properly begins. First, then, let us take a brief glance at the Re¬ 
ligion of Greece, at least, so far as we find it connected with the 
subject of this inquiry. 

That Religion, or Mythology, it is the fashion to praise for its 
beauty and its poetry, while some philosophers, and among them 
Bacon, have regarded it as containing under a graceful veil, many 
valuable truths of Natural Philosophy. These praises seem to be 
not* unwarranted, nor is that conjecture probably wholly without 
foundation, but it surely has a much deeper aspect, a profounder 
meaning. Does it not shadow forth a mighty truth—is it not a 
revelation of the deep yearnings of the human spirit for communion 
with the world of spirits, as well as with the Father of spirits—a 
reaching forth from this visible sensuous sphere to the truer and 
higher life beyond ? 

That Grecian mind with all its culture may not have escaped 
the taint of idolatry which was spread over the ancient world, (and 
under other forms, the modern world also), but the belief which 
it held that God’s government of the world was carried on by 
spiritual agencies under his appointment, cannot fairly be regarded 
as idolatrous, though it may have been perverted to purposes of 
idolatry. We do the Grecian people an injustice if we conclude that 
the One Supreme God was unknown to, or unacknowledged by them; 
for, as is remarked by Lord Herbert:—“ Though the Greeks advanced 
their Heroes into the number of the gods, yet they acknowledged 
a most good and great God, far superior to them, who is unani¬ 
mously worshipped by all nations; and to whom they were only 
subservient.”* (Ancient Religion of the Gentiles.) 

* The intelligent heathen recognised the One Supreme God under the various names and 
representations by which his character was attempted to be set forth; as is confessed by St. 
Augustine, (He Civ. Dei.) who observes “ It was one God. the universal Creator and Sustained 
who in the ethereal spaces was called Jupiter, in the sea Neptune, in the sun Phoebus, in the fire 
Vulcan, in the vintage Bacchus, in the harvest Ceres, in the forests Diana, in the sciences 
Minerva.” 

“ It is of very little consequence,” says Seneca, {De Beneficis) “by what name you call the 


THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


21 


It has been said that the gods of Greece occupy the same place 
in the Greek Mythology as the Romish saints in the system of 
Romanism. There is more truth in the assertion than may at first 
appear, for we have reason to believe that its gods, in great part 
at least, were but the apotheosised spirits of great, just, and brave 
men—founders of states and cities, public benefactors, heroes, and 
men who had lived in the golden age. That this was the belief of 
the Greeks themselves, is distinctly declared by Herodotus. “All 
Pagan antiquity affirms,” says Dr. Campbell, “ that from Titan and 
Saturn, the poetic progeny of Coelus and Terra, down to Esculapius, 
Proteus and Minos, .all their divinities were ghosts of dead men, and 
were so regarded.”* 

Hence their multitudinous divinities who peopled earth, air, and 
ocean: gods in human form though of super-human beauty, pos¬ 
sessing a human nature—and though of more than mortal wisdom^ 
not exempt from mortal passions and mortal frailty. Cicero con¬ 
tends:—“That even the superior order of gods, or gods of the 
greatest nations, were originally natives of this lower world, as 
could be proved from the writers of Greece; that their sepulchres 
were shown openly in that country and that the traditions con¬ 
cerning them were preserved in the mysteries.” 

Taylor, in his Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, 
quotes Proclus as saying:—“ In all initiations and mysteries, the gods 
exhibit many forms of themselves, and appear in a variety of shapes : 
and sometimes, indeed, an unfigured light of themselves is held 
forth to the view; sometimes this light is figured according to a 
human form, and sometimes it proceeds into a different shape.” 
Taylor adds:—“This doctrine, too, of divine appearances in the 
Mysteries, is clearly confirmed by Plotinus. (Ennead I., lib. 6, p. 55, 
and Ennead 9, lib. 9, p. 700). And, in short, that magical evoca¬ 
tion formed a part of the sacerdotal office in the mysteries, and 
that this was universally believed by all antiquity, long before the 

First Nature, the Divine Reason that presides over the universe, and fills all the parts of it. He 
is still the same God. The Stoics sometimes call him Father Bacchus, because he is the universal 
life that animates nature; sometimes Mercury, because he is the Eternal Reason, Order, and 
Wisdom. You may give him as many names as you please, provided you allow but one sole 
principle universally present.” 

* For evidence of the universal origin of Pagan worship in the deification of dead men and of 
outward nature; see Farmer’s learned work, The general prevalence of the worship of Human 
Spirits in the Ancient Heathen Nations asserted and proved; and to the authorities therein 
quoted; also Cud worth’s Intellectual System of the Universe, Chap. III. 


I 


22 THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 

era of the later Platonists, is plain from the testimony of Hippocrates, 
or at least Democritus.” Taylor also quotes Proclus as speaking 
of “ The enjoyment of that felicity which arises from intimate con¬ 
verse with the gods.” 

The whole structure of the Greek Mythology (as of other Mytholo¬ 
gies) if closely examined, testifies to the belief in a Spiritual 
Universe surrounding and in contact with this material one, 
and not only influencing men, but often making them conscious of 
such influence, as might be abundantly illustrated from Hesiod, 
Homer, Yirgil, Ovid, Plato, and other classical poets and writers 
of antiquity. 

The Oracles of Greece constitute an enigma which has puzzled 
later philosophers and critics more perhaps than any other in 
ancient history. Of these Oracles, the most famous was that of 
Delphi—otherwise an obscure and insignificant town. That its 
decrees were reverenced, not only by the vulgar, but by philosophers 
and statesmen—that it was consulted by authority in all public 
emergencies—that it determined questions of peace and war—the 
settlement of colonies, the founding of states—that it influenced the 
fate not only of individuals, but sometimes of armies, and even of 
the state itself; and not only the destinies of Greece “ but more or 
less that of all the countries around the Mediterranean,” so that 
“ in all matters of importance, whether relating to religion or to 
politics, to public or to private life,” the words of the entranced 
woman—the priestess of the oracle, a simple, unsophisticated country 
woman, determined the choice, settled the disputes, and “preserved 
and promoted the religion of the greater portion of the ancient 
world;”—are all plain matters of history. “We derive,” says Plu¬ 
tarch, “immense advantages from the favour the gods have 
conceded to her—she, and the Priestess of Dodona, confer on 
mankind the greatest benefits both public and private. It would 
be impossible to enumerate all the instances in which the Pythia 
proved the importance of her power of foretelling events; and 
the facts of themselves are so well and so generally known, that 
it would be useless to bring forth new evidences. She is second 
to no one in purity of morals and chastity of conduct. Brought 
up by her poor parents in the country, she brings with her 
neither art, nor experience, nor any talent whatever when she 
arrives at Delphi, to be the interpreter of the god. She is con¬ 
sulted on any account,—marriage, travels, harvest, diseases, &c. 


THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


23 


Her answers though submitted to the severest scrutiny, have never 
proved false or incorrect. On the contrary, the verification of them 
has filled the temple with gifts from all parts of Greece and foreign 
countries.” The same writer records that she predicted that terrible 
eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum, and 
caused the death of the great Pliny. 

Cicero speaks of those oracles “ which are uttered under the in¬ 
fluence of some divine instinct or inspiration,” and of which he 
says, “ Chrysippus has collected a countless list, not one without a 
witness and authority of sufficient weight.” And he asks—“Would 
that oracle at Delphi have ever been so celebrated and illus¬ 
trious, and so loaded with such splendid gifts from all nations and 
kings, if all nations had not had experience of the truth of its pre¬ 
dictions. Only let this fact remain—which cannot be denied, unless 
we will overthrow all history—that that oracle told the truth for 
many ages.”* 

That all this was nothing more tban the cunning tricks of priests 
—that the countrymen of Aristotle and Plato—the most inquisitive, 
acute, and free-minded people of antiquity, could for successive 
generations be so gulled by juggleries, let those believe who can. 
That the oracle paltered in a double sense:—that its predictions 
were couched in terms so ambiguous that in any event a claim of 
their fulfilment might be set up, is an assertion that has been often 
made. Probably, however, an intelligent contemporary may have 
known as much about it as a critic born some two thousand years 
afterwards. Plutarch, besides the passage already quoted, observes:— 
“ As Mathematicians call a straight line the shortest possible course 

* It is but fair to state that Cicero’s works on spiritual subjects, being written in the form of 
dialogue, in which both sides are represented, he may in turn be cited by each. Mr. Howitt 
remarks“ In the De Natura Deorum, he argues earnestly against a providential care of men 
on liistoric grounds; but this he puts into the mouth of Cotta, and makes him say that he has 
argued thus rather for the sake of calling forth a defence of Divine Providence than from his real 
belief. So, again, in the De Divinatione, though he himself takes the part against oracles and 
divination, he does it so evidently as a disputant, and with so much more sophistry, and puts into 
the mouth of his brother Quintus such an array of historic proof in their favour, that the reader 
feels the truth of the argument lies on that side. But, in all these cases, what are the real 
opinions of Cicero are left dubious.. . . Still, after all his arguments against predictions and 
dreams, in one place he seems to forget himself and to speak his real sentiments, professing to 
approve of the doctrine of the Peripatetics, of old Dicearchus and Cratippus, that in the soul of 
man dwells an oracle by which the future may be perceived, either when the soul is excited by 
Divine inspiration, or when, through sleep, the soul expands herself unfettered. Taking, however, 
Cicero’s facts, without his sophistries, they are striking.” Mr. Howitt proceeds to enumerate 
some of these. See Hittory of the Supernatural , Vol. I., Chap. XV. 


24 


THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


between two points, so tbe answer of tbe Pythonness proceeds to 
the very truth without any diversion, circuit, fraud, or ambiguity. 
It has never yet in a single instance been convicted of falsehood.”* 
Honest, simple-minded Herodotus “ the Father ol History, testifies 
in this wise“ I am unable to speak against tbe oracles as not being 
true, nor wish to impugn the authority of those that speak clearly, 
when I look on such occurrences as the followingthen after 
citing an instance, he continues—“ Looking on such occurrences, 
and regarding Bacis, who spoke thus clearly, I neither dare 
myself say anything in contradiction to oracles, nor allow others 

to do so.” 

Bollin, in his Ancient History, while depreciating these institu¬ 
tions, under the absurd idea, entertained by many of the later Chris- 

* Plxjtarch admits the occasional obscurity aud circumlocution of the Oracles, which he 
explains as a measure of precaution when powerful states and princes went to consult them. As 
Apollo employs mortal men as his servants and prophets, over their safety he must watch, and see 
that his priests do not come to harm, by had men. He did not wish entirely to suppress the 
truth, but left its revelations, like a ray of light, to shine through and become softened in verses, 
for tbe purpose of removing from it everything harsh and unpleasant. Besides, tyrants and 
enemies may not learn that which stands before them. Eor them he envelopes his replies in 
obscurity and conjecture which concealed the meaning of the oracle from all others, but revealed 
it to the questioner without deceit. 

Virgil’s well-known description of the Cumoean Sybil may be cited as illustrating that at 
the moment of ecstasy there was the accession of a new intelligent power—a dominant actuating 
will superinduced upon her own, and holding it in abeyance. He calls her “ The sacred maid”— 

“ The mad divining dame. 

The priestess of the God, Deipliobe her name. 

* * * Aloud she cries, 

4 This is the timeinquire your destinies! 

He comes! behold the God!’ Thus while she said, 

(And shiv’ring at the sacred entry staid) 

Her colour chang’d; her face was not the same; 

And hollow groans from her deep spirit came; 

Her hair stood up ; convulsive rage possess’d 
Her trembling limbs, and heav’d her lab’ring breast. 

Greater than human kind she seem’d to look. 

And with an accent more than mortal, spoke. 

Her staring eyes with sparkling fury roll. 

When all the god came rushing on her soul. 

* * * * * 

Struggling in vain, impatient of her load, 

And lab’ring underneath the pond’rous god. 

The more she strove to shake him from her breast, 

With more and far superior force he press’d, 

Commands his entrance, and without control, 

Usurps her organs, and inspires her soul.” 

JEneis, Book VI., Dryden’s Translation. 


THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


25 


tian writers, tliat in so doing, lie is advancing tlie credit of the 
Scripture prophecies, and especially dwelling on their occasional 
ambiguities, yet feels himself compelled to the following ample ad¬ 
missions :—“ It must, however, be confessed, that sometimes the 
answer of the oracle was clear and circumstantial. I have repeated 
in the history of Croesus the stratagem he made use of to assure 
himself of the veracity of the oracle, which was to demand of it, by 
his ambassador, what he was doing at a certain time prefixed. The 
oracle of Delphos replied, that he was causing a tortoise and a lamb 
to be dressed in a vessel of brass, which was really so. The Em¬ 
peror Trajan made a similar trial of the god at Heliopolis, by sending 
him a letter sealed up, to which he demanded an answer. The 
oracle made no other return than to command a blank paper, well 
folded and sealed, to be delivered to him. Trajan, upon the receipt 
of it, was struck with amazement to see an answer so correspondent 
with his own letter, in which he had written nothing.” The follow¬ 
ing is the learned historian’s explanation of these facts“ Admitting 
it to be true that some oracles have been followed precisely by the 
events foretold, we may believe that Cod, to punish the blind and 
sacrilegious credulity of Pagans, has sometimes permitted daemons 
to have knowledge of things to come, and to foretell them distinctly 
enough. Which conduct of God though very much above human 
comprehension, is frequently attested in the Holy Scripture. And, 
with equal simplicity, he informs us that Father Baltus, the Jesuit, 
Professor of the Holy Scriptures in the University of Strasburg, 
composed “a very solid treatise, wherein he demonstrates invincibly, 
with the unanimous authority of the Fathers, that daemons were the 
real agents in the oracles.” 

The Reverend Charles Beecher, replying to the apneumatic 
theory of Dr. Rogers, observes“ Some Responses doubtless were 
cunning double-entendres, some, the result of mere clairvoyance, 
but some were genuine. The Pythoness of Phillipi (Acts xvi. 16.) 
was such as the oracles employed. If she was genuine they were. 
Either Paul, Luke her employers, and the world was deceived or 
she was genuine. But if she was, the oracles were, and if they were, 
the mediums are.”* Dr. Rogers appears to agree with Mr. Beecher 


* “It may perhaps be interesting to some,” says Mr. Beecher, “to know that the genuineness 
of the oracles was conceded by Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Alexandria, Tatian, 
Clemens Alexandras, Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Cyril Alexandras and 
others of the Greek Fathers, and by Minucius Felix, Cyprian, Tertullian, Lactantius, Maternus 
Firnicius, Jerome, Augustine, and others of the Latin.” 


26 


THE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


on the latter point, but takes the other horn of the dilemma, for he 
remarks :—“ In this trance state of the Pythia, we witness the same 
phenomena of many of our so-called ‘ mediums.’ ” Dr. Rogers 
attempts to account for the oracles as the result of “ local mundane 
emanations” acting upon the nervous system of the Pythia, and. 
developing to a wonderful degree the pre-sension, or divining power 
of her brain, standing, as he affirms it did, in a general relation to 
all matter. He holds that the controlling action of mind being sus¬ 
pended, her brain became entirely subject to a specific mundane 
influence, which being reflexed back upon the outer world, was 
called the oracle of the gods,—as in the modern medium it is called 
* communications from the invisible spiritual world.’ 

Well! that is better than the imposture theory, but it won’t do. 
It reminds us of the stage direction in one of our old plays—“ Enter 
a song and sings itself.” Local mundane emanations may have 
excited in the Pythia the conditions required in her as a channel for 
conveyance of the oracular responses; but mundane emanations 
could not originate itelligence, or communicate what they did not 
possess. An Electric Telegraph cannot work itself—it will convey 
a message,—it cannot originate one. Intelligent responses require 
an intelligent agent for their production. That these mundane 
emanations excited or developed a power in the brain separate and 
distinct from mind, a physical quality which pre-sensed coming 
events, is an assertion, which seems to me, unauthorised by fact, 
unwarranted by science, and destitute of probability,—looking very 
like a clever improvisation to eke out the exigencies of a theory. The 
learned Jesuit, Clasen, cuts the gordian knot, after approved clerical 
fashion, by giving to the devil the honour of being prime-mover of 
all the oracles. A mode of dealing with the question simple enough, 
but not quite satisfactory; although to give it greater plausibility, 
he maintains, in defiance of sound historical evidence, that the 
oracles ceased altogether at the advent of our Saviour, “ who with 
his greater strength wrested from them their means of deception.” 
Probably, after all, the reader may conclude that the Greeks them¬ 
selves were not far wrong in attributing the oracular responses to 
the inspiration of the gods, i.e. the highest order of their deified 
human spirits. 

Of the Sybils and their prophetic books:—Mr. Cumberland, in 
writing of early Greek literature, remarks:—“ When I am speaking 
of Oracular Poets or Diviners, it is not possible to pass over the 


TIIE ORACLES, SYBILS, ETC. 


27 


Sybils, tbe most extraordinary in this order of bards; their oracles 
have been agitated by the learned in all ages and received with the 
utmost veneration and respect, by the Greeks first, and afterwards 
by the Romans ; Heathen writers and some of the most respectable 
fathers of the Christian Church refer to them without hesitation, 
and the fact of their existence rests upon such strength of testimony, 
as seems to amount to historical demonstration and universal 
assent.” He adds, that in these oracles, “Some revolutions are 
distinctly pointed out, other things are shadowed distantly and in 
obscurity; but what is most extraordinary upon the whole is, that 
certain events in times that must have been posterior to the com¬ 
position of these verses, even admitting them to be spunous, seem 
to fulfil these predictions in a very singular manner.” 

The learned Professor Whiston, who investigated the verses 
which have come down to us under this character, and separated 
what he believed the genuine passages from later interpolations, 
concludes that, “ whilst God sent his Jewish Prophets to the nation 
of the Jews from Moses to Malachi, he seems also to have sent all 
along these Gentile prophetesses to the Gentiles, for their guidance 
and direction and caution in religious matters.” 

That some of the greatest legislators of antiquity claimed to have 
received their laws from, and to have been instructed by, spiritual 
beings, is well known. It is true that in our school-books and his¬ 
tories, it is common to treat these men as impostors, who adopted 
this device as a sort of pious fraud to ensure for these laws the respect 
and observance of the multitude. But even were this true (which 
is hard to believe) it would still be evidence of the universality of the 
spiritual belief in those times. The same remark will apply to 
the various modes of augury and divination practised in the ancient 
world to ascertain the will of the gods, for the most part apotheosized 
human spirits. And it may be added that the practice of invoking 
and apostrophising the shades of the departed was not originally a 
mere rhetorical device, but the expression of an actual belief in their 
presence, cognisance, and continued interest and care in the welfare 
of their descendants.* So also, when the poets invoked the in- 

* Sir Edwaed Ceeasy, writing of the national heroes who, previous to the battle of 
Marathon had made its plain and neighbourhood the scene of their exploits, saysThese 
traditions were not mere cloudy myths, or idle fictions, but matters of implicit, earnest faith 
to the men of that day: and many a fervent prayer arose from the Athenian ranks to the heroic 
spirits who while on earth had striven and suffered on that very spot, and who were believed to 


28 


THE PHILOSOPHERS. 


spiration of some god, it was the utterance of a reverent faith that 
all that was truly great and noble in song sprang from a real 
spiritual or divine afflatus. The tragedies of the great dramatists 
of Greece are based upon and interpenetrated with a faith in 
the reality of oracles and the truth of their predictions. This is 
indeed the very web and woof of which they are formed. 

The Yalor, or prophetesses of ancient Scandinavia, the Alrunes 
of Germany, and the Druidesses of Gaul and Britain, in later times, 
correspond in some measure, to the Oracles and Sybils of Greece and 
Borne. 


CHAPTEB Y. 

THE PHILOSOPHERS. 

It is a general belief in Christendom that genuine prophecy and 
inspiration existed only in Ancient Israel and in the Primitive 
Christian Church. But this belief is unwarranted by Scripture, and 
is contrary to fact. Prophecy and inspiration are native to other 
soils than Palestine—to Gentile as well as to Jewish Tribes. “I 
am acquainted,” says Cicero, “with no people either civilized or 
savage, learned or ignorant, which does not believe in the prediction 
of future events by a few individuals who understand and are able to 
foresee the future.” And this he tells us has been the universally 
received belief among all nations from the heroic times. This 
power of prophecy, which the Greeks ascribed to the gift of the gods, 
who imparted it to man from affection and in answer to his prayers; 

• Cicero explains, *by telling us that, “ As the dormant vitality lies 
hidden in the seed, so does the future lie concealed in its causes, and 
the soul is enabled to perceive these when quickened and enlightened 
by higher influences, either in sleep, or through its reasoning 
faculties.” 

Plutarch repudiates the idea that prophecy rests upon a calcula¬ 
tion, or upon given data. He insists that it is a direct knowledge, 
that the soul penetrates to the principles of things and participates 
in the Divine knowledge. “ Do you imagine,” he says, “ that the 

be now heavenly powers, looking down with interest on their still beloved country, and capable of 
interposing with superhuman aid in their behalf.”— The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World 



THE PHILOSOPHERS. 


29 


daemons are anything else than souls, which, as Hesiod says, wander 

through the atmosphere. It is therefore neither unreasonable 

nor strange that souls should come to souls, and impart to them 
conceptions of future things, occasionally by letters, or by a mere 
touch, or by a glance reveal to them past events or foretell future 
ones.” 

Plato says:—“ Man does not participate in the divinely inspired 
and true prophecy as a reasoning being, but alone when he is either 
deprived, during sleep, or through sickness, of the exercise of reason, 
or when, by some inspiration, he cannot command himselfIn The 
Banquet of Plato, there is a speech attributed to Socrates, in which 
he tells us, “ that daemons are many and various,” and that “ every¬ 
thing daemoniacal holds an intermediate place between what is 
divine and what is mortal.” The daemon, “ interprets and makes a 
communication between divine and human things, conveying the 
prayers and sacrifices of men to the gods, and communicating the 
commands and directions concerning the mode of worship most 
pleasing to them, from gods to men. These instructions Socrates 
professes to have received from the prophetess Diotama, “who 
was profoundly skilled in this and many other doctrines.” There 
is also in Plato’s Ion , a speech of Socrates, in which he tells 
us, that poets, prophets, and soothsayers, are the ministers and in¬ 
terpreters of the gods by whom they are possessed and inspired, 
that they do not compose according to any art which they have ac¬ 
quired, but from the impulse of the divinity within them. Neander 
remarks that:—“ Plato’s speculation rested on a basis altogether 
historical. He connected himself with the actual phenomena of 
religious life, and with the traditions lying before him, as we see in 
his remarks on the doctrines of the gods and on divination. He 
sought to embody, in his speculations, the truih which lay at the 
bottom of all this, and to separate it from all admixture of supersti¬ 
tion. It still continued to be the aim of original Platonism to trace 
throughout history the vestiges of a connection between the visible 
and invisible worlds, between the Divine and the Human.” 

Ancient history and biography, abound with instances of a kind 
of which the Genius of Brutus and the Daemon of Socrates are the best 
known examples. The latter instance, in particular, has bothered 
critics and rationalists amazingly; it is their white elephant, they don’t 
know what to do with it. They cannot accept the simple natural 
meaning of the narrative, and are therefore driven to find or make 



30 


THE PHILOSOPHERS. 


one of a more recondite character. Hence, it has been a text for all 
sorts of esoteric and non-natural interpretations. 

Mr. Grote in his History of Greece, tells us that according to his 
own representation, Socrates “ had been accustomed constantly to 
hear, even from his childhood, a divine voice, interfering, at mo¬ 
ments when he was about to act, in the way of restraint, but never 
in the way of instigation. Such prohibitory warning was wont to 
come upon him very frequently, not merely on great, but even on 
small occasions, intercepting what he was about to do or to say. 
Though later writers speak of this as the genius or daemon of 
Socrates, he himself does not personify it, but treats it merely as a 
‘ divine sign, a prophetic or supernatural voice.’ He was accustomed 
not only to obey it implicitly, but to speak of it publicly and 
familiarly to others, so that the fact was well known both to his 
friends and to his enemies. . . . There were also other ways in which 
he believed himself to have received the special mandates of the 
gods, not simply checking him when he was about to take a wrong 
turn, but spurring him on, directing, and peremptorily exacting 
from him, a positive course of proceeding. Such distinct mission 
had been imposed upon him by dreams, by oracular intimations, 
and by every other means which the gods employed, for signifying 
their special will.” Mr. Grote, commenting on Socrates’ “ persuasion, 
of a special religious mission, restraints, impulses, and communica¬ 
tions, sent to him by the godsobserves—“ Taking the belief in such 
supernatural intervention generally, it was indeed no way peculiar 
to Socrates: it was the ordinary faith of the ancient world” Espe¬ 
cially, on all critical occasions, when any danger awaited him, or 
his friends, Socrates was thus spiritually forewarned.* His friend 
and scholar, Xenophon, testifies to the truth of these warnings:—“ I 
imparted many of these divine warnings to my friend yet was I 
never convicted of error.” And, as remarked by Mr. Maurice in his 
Moral and Metaphysical Philosoplyy, he asks, “with plain, soldier¬ 
like honesty whether the accusers of Socrates could believe that he 

* An instance of a warning of impending danger to one of his friends is given in Plato. One 
Timarchus, a noble Athenian, being at dinner in company with Socrates, he rose up to go away; 
which Socrates observing, bad him sit down again: “For,” said lie, “the daemon has just given 
me the accustomed sign.” Some little time after, Timarchus offered again to be gone, and 
Socrates once more stopped him, saying lie had the same sign repeated to him. At length, when 
Socrates was earnest in discourse, and did not mind him, Timarchus stole away, and in a few 
minutes after, committed a murder, for which, being carried to execution, his last words w ere, 
“ That he had come to that untimely end for not obeying the daemon of Socrates.” 


THE PHILOSOPHERS. 


31 


(Socrates) told a lie about this matter, and hints that it would shake 
his faith in all reality, to suppose that the mind of a man so clear 
sighted and free from superstition, could be the victim of an utterly 
false impression, or that it could produce the'wholesome effects 
which he himself had witnessed.”—* The dasmon,’ he says, gave signs 
to Socrates, who believed “ that the gods know all things, both those 
spoken and those done, as also those meditated in silence; for they 
are present everywhere and give signs to men concerning human 
affairs.” He tells us also of Socrates, “ that he was so pious towards 
the gods, as never to undertake anything without consulting them.” 
With the language of Socrates, and the testimony of Xenophon be¬ 
fore us, we shall have no difficulty in agreeing with the conclusion 
of Mr. Lewes, that “ Socrates was a religious man and implicitly 
believed in supernatural communications.”* Posterity has con¬ 
firmed the verdict of the oracle which pronounced Socrates “ The 
wisest man in Greece.” 

In Alexandria, the Platonic Philosophy developed into a Theology, 
the School became a Church; and its hierophants made the last 
great effort of the ancient world to solve the problems of Philosophy. 
With their pagan pantheism, their isolation from common men and 
.common life, their contempt of the body, and their antagonism to 
Christianity, we can have no sympathy; but with all their errors, 
they were men of large, earnest, and devout minds; their genius, 
their religious spirit, and the many truths they unquestionably 
held, formed the last bulwark of paganism. The light they shed 
paled only in the splendour of a higher and purer faith: their great 
thoughts did not die, but exercised an influence which may be 
traced in the history of the Christian Church and of modern thought. 
It is, however, only of their teachings as connected with our present 
inquiry that I have now to treat. 

Of these Heo-Platonists as they are termed, Plotinus is generally 
regarded as the founder, but in Jamblichus, or the writer of the 
treatise that bears his name, the phenomena and philosophy of 
spiritual intercourse in the ancient world, appear to have found 
their most complete and able expositor. The Rev. Charles Beecher 
speaks of him, as:—“ One into whom was distilled the quintessence 
of Egyptian arid Chaldee, not to say, Hebrew, Greek, and Roman, 
doctrine on this matter.” I present here some extracts from both 

* “The abore explanation,” says Mr. Lewes, “is in perfect accordance with what Plato 
uniformly says of daemons.” See Professor Long’s Notes to Plutarch, Article Daemon. 


32 


THE PHILOSOPHEES. 


writers, as best illustrating the mind of the ancient world herein. 
The first is from Plotinus: —OTou ask, how can we know the 
Infinite? I answer, not by reason. It is the office of reason to 
distinguish and define. The Infinite, therefore, cannot be ranked 
among its objects. You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty 
superior to reason, by entering into a state in which you are your_ 
finite self no longer, in which the Divine essence is communicated to 
you. - This is ecstacy. . . . But this sublime condition is not of per¬ 
manent duration. It is only now and then that we can enjoy this 
elevation (mercifully made possible for us) above the limits of the 
body and the world. I myself have realized it but three times as 
yet, and Porphyry hitherto not once. All that tends to purify and 
elevate the mind will assist you in this attainment, and facilitate the 
approach and recurrence of these happy intervals. There are then, 
different roads by which this end may be reached. The love of 
beauty which exalts the poet; that devotion to the One and that 
ascent of science which makes the ambition of the philosopher; and 
that love and those prayers by which some devout and ardent soul 
tends in its moral purity towards perfection. These are the great 
highways conducting to that height above the actual and the par¬ 
ticular, where we stand in the immediate presence of the Infinite, 
who shines out as from t«he deeps of thejsoul.’f 

Porphyry, who is here mentioned, (well known as an assailant 
of Christianity) was a sceptical philosopher; he addressed a letter 
to Anebon, an Egyptian priest, full of sly, sarcastic questions 
concerning daemons and divination, much after the style of a modern 
reviewer. Jamblichus, his own disciple, answered it. He admits 
with Porphyry, that knowledge of the gods is the highest of all 
blessings. Meditation, he affirms, is a necessary condition of com¬ 
munication with the gods, but, it is not the only condition: the 
philosopher, as such may perceive the need of communion, but he 
does not attain it. Something else is required. Not tricks or 
deceptions, as Porphyry insinuates. Truth proceeds, not from our 
minds, but from the gods. Priests do not invent, they are but the 
channels of communication. “The pomp of Emperors becomes as 
nothing in comparison with the glory that surrounds the hierophant. 
! His nature is the instrument of Deity who fills and impels him. 
Men of this order do not employ, in the elevation they experience, 
the waking senses as do others. They have no purpose of their 
own, no mastery over themselves. They speak wisdom they do 


THE PHILOSOPHERS. 


33 


not understand, and their faculties absorbed in a divine power 
become the utterance of a superior will.^ 

“Often, at the moment of inspiration, or when the afflatus has 
subsided, a fiery appearance is seen—the entering or departing 
power. Those who are skilled in this wisdom can tell by the 
character of this glory the rank of tbe divinity who has seized 
for a time the reins of the mystic’s soul, and guides it as he will. 
Sometimes the body of the man subject to this influence is violently 
agitated, sometimes it is rigid and motionless. In some instances 
sweet music is heard, in others, discordant and fearful sounds. The 
person of the subject bas been known to dilate and tower to a super¬ 
human height, in other cases, it has been lifted up into the air. | 

“ Frequently, not merely the ordinary exercise of reason, but 
sensation and animal life woulcLappear to have been suspended; and 
the subject of the afflatus has not felt the application of fire, has been 
pierced with spits, cut with knives, aud not been sensible of pain. 
Yea, often, the more the body and the mind have been alike impeded by 
vigil and by fasts, the more ignorant and mentally imbecile a youth 
may be who is brought under this influence, the more freely and 
unmixedly will the divine power be made manifest. So clearly are 
these Tvonders the work, not of human skill or wisdom, but of super¬ 
natural agency! Characteristics, such as these I have mentioned, 
are the marks of the true inspiration.”* 

* Mr. Vaughan, in his clever and agreeable Hours with the Mystics, sneers at the philosophy 
of the Neo-Platonists, which “ embraced the hallucination of intuition and of ecstasy, till it finally 
vanishes at Athens amid the incense and hocus pocus of theurgic incantation.” Let us hear, 
then, his interpretation of the phenomena they describe as facts“ I suppose the mystic, by 
remaining many hours (enfeebled perhaps by fast and vigil) absolutely motionless, ceasing tp 
think of anything except that he thinks he is successful in thinking of nothing, and staring 
pertinaciously at vacancy, throws himself at last into a kind of trance. Iu this state he may 
perceive, even when the eyes are closed, (still I suppose “ staring pertinaciously at vacancy,”) 
some luminous appearance, perhaps the result of pressure on the optic nerve—I am not anatomist 
enough to explain; and if his mind be strongly imaginative, or labouring under the ground-swell 
of recent excitement, this light may shape itself into archetype, demon, or whatnot. In any 
case, the more distinctly the object seen the more manifestly is it the production of his own 
mind- a Brocken-phantom, the enlarged shadow of himself moving on some shifting tapestry of 
mist.” 

Mercy on us! I am afraid the disciples of Locke will conclude that the writer, when he penned 
the passage in italics must have been “ strongly imaginative, or, labouring under the ground-swell 
of recent excitement.” Can no one be found “ anatomist enough to explain,” who will assist a 
gentleman in difficulties. One of the interlocutors in Hours with the Mystics, exclaims at the end 
of a conversation about these worthies Thanks, these Neo-Platonists are evidently no mere 
dreamers, they are erudite and critical, they study and they reason, they axe logicians as well as 
poets; they are not mystics till they have first been rationalists, and they have recourse at last 

D 


34 


THE PHILOSOPHERS. 


His remarks concerning spiritual communications by dreams, are 
too curious and interesting to be omitted. He considers that the 
soul has a twofold relation or, as some modern writers would call it, 
a bi-polarity, to the Divinity, and to the body; hence he distin¬ 
guishes between a divine dreaming, as a state between sleeping and 
waking, in which divine voices are heard and divine visions per¬ 
ceived, and the dreaming that is dependent upon bodily impressions 
and earthly recollections. 

/) “ There is nothing unworthy of belief in what you have been told 
concerning the sacred sleep, and divination by dreams. I explain 
it thus. The soul has a two-fold life, a lower and a higher. In 
sleep the soul is freed from the constraint of the body, and enters, 
as one emancipated, on its divine life of intelligence. Then, as the 
noble faculty which beholds the objects that truly are,—the objects 
in the world of intelligence—stirs within, and awakens to its power, 
who can be surprised that the mind, which contains in itself the 
principles of all that happens, should, in this its state of liberation, 
discern the future in those antecedent principles which will make 
that future what it is to be! The nobler part of the soul is thus 
united by abstractions to higher natures, and becomes a participant 
in the wisdom and foreknowledge of the gods. Becorded examples 
of this are numerous and well authenticated; instances occur too 
every day. Numbers of sick by sleeping in the temple of Esculapius 
have had their cure revealed to them in dreams vouchsafed by the 
gods. "Would not Alexander’s army have perished but for a dream 
in which Dionysius pointed out the means of safety ? Was not the 
siege of Aphutes raised through a dream sent by Jupiter Ammon ? 
I The night time of the body is the day time of the soul,’\ 

The writer, (I quote Mr. Maurice’s abstract) concludes, by a 
prayer for himself and correspondent, “ that the gods would grant 
to them to hold fast all right thoughts: that they would infuse 
into them and keep them within the truth for ever; that they would 
vouchsafe them a more perfect participation of divine knowledge, 
wherein consists the blessed accomplishment of all other good 
things; and would grant them the enjoyment of sympathy and 
fellowship with each other.’’ 

These are some of the most remarkable passages in this extraor- 


to mysticism only to carry them whither they find reason cannot mount.” I leave it to the judg¬ 
ment of the reader to determine, whether or no, men of this stamp are likely to have been compe¬ 
tent judges of the facts they allege themselves to have witnessed or experienced. 


THE PHILOSOPHERS. 


35 


- dinary book. As observed by the Reverend Charles Kingsley, in 
his exposition of the Alexandrian philosophy. “We have here the 
very phenomena which are puzzling us so now-a-days. They are 
all there, these modern puzzles, in those old books of the long by¬ 
gone seekers for wisdom.” 

In further illustration of the truth of this remark I cite from 
Tertullian the following passage as quoted by Mr. Mac Walter. “ Do 
not your magicians call ghosts and departed souls from the shades 
below, and by their infernal charms, represent an infinite number 
of delusions ? And how do they peform all this, but by the assist¬ 
ance of evil angels and daemons, by which they are able to make 
* stools and tables prophesy.” We may form our own estimate as to 
the correctness of the opinions entertained by this eminent Father 
of the church about “ infernal charms,” “ delusions” and “ evil 
angels,” but his testimony to the facts of his time it will be seen is 
the testimony of an opponent. 

There is a curious account in Ammianus Marcellinus confirmatory 
of Tertullian’s statement. He tells us, that in the fourth century, 
under the Emperor Yalens, some Greek Professors of Theurgy were 
tried for attempting to ascertain by magical arts the successor to 

* the throne. The small table or tripod which they had used for this 
purpose was produced in court. They were put to the torture, and 
confessed their mode of consulting it to be this. The table, which 
had first been consecrated, was placed in the centre of a house puri¬ 
fied by incense on every side: on this table was placed a round dish, 
which had undergone the needful purifications, and was composed 
of various metallic substances ; around the circular rim of this dish 
were cut at exactly equal distances the alphabetic characters. One 
of their number in linen clothing, carrying in his hand branches of 
the sacred laurel, then recited certain prescribed forms of invocation, 
balancing over the dish a suspended ring also consecrated, attached 
to the end of a very fine linen thread. This ring darting out, and 
striking at distant intervals at particular letters, made *out in this 
way, in heroic verse, similarly to the oracles, answers to the ques¬ 
tions that were put. They had thus ascertained that Theodosius 
would succeed the reigning Emperor. And so it happened. 

In illustration of the general belief among the Roman people in 
spirit-manifestations, I may cite the following from the speech of 
Titus, the Roman General, to his soldiers, as given by Josephus :— 

♦ “ For* what man of virtue is there who does not know, that those 

d 2 



36 


Middleton’s dree inquiry. 


souls which are severed from their fleshly bodies in battle by the 
sword, are received by the ether, that purest of elements, and joined 
to that company which are placed among the stars; that they be¬ 
come good demons, and propitious heroes, and shew themselves as 
such to their posterity afterwards.”* 

Passing by (as not within my present scope) the accounts given 
of Simon Magus, Apollonius of Tyana, and other reputed wonder¬ 
workers, who are said to have performed their feats by supernatural 
aid, I here close this outline sketch of testimonies to ancient 
Spiritualism, and beg the reader’s attention to like testimonies in 
the early Christian Church, and which have been continued in (and 
also out of) the Church, to our own day. 


CHAPTER YI. 

Middleton’s free inquiry into the miraculous powers of the 

CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

I have attempted to show that the belief in spirit-intercourse pre¬ 
vailed generally through the ancient world; that it was a common 
faith, held alike by Jewish Prophets, Pagan Philosophers, and Chris¬ 
tian Apostles. Let us proceed to inquire if there is any warrant for 
the notion now so common in Protestant churches, that this inter¬ 
course with the spirit-world, even if permitted before the Christian 
Era, ceased altogether on its introduction, or with the Apostolic age 
at farthest. 

First, I remark, that no confirmation of this notion can be found 
in the language of Jesus, or in the teachings of the Hew Testament; 
there is no intimation therein that guidance, revelation, influx from 
the spiritual universe ceased with the Jewish dispensation;—no 
limitation of the “ spiritual gifts” of the Church to that, or to any 
age: the contrary seems rather to be implied. I can see no reason 
for their withdrawal, no indications of this being the fact, but I do 
find very explicit declarations of their continuance. 

* In a subsequent chapter of the same book, where Joseph os is narrating what transpired 
immediately preceding the destruction of the temple, there occurs the following passage, which is 
worth transcribing 

" Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the 
inner court of the temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said, 
hat in the first place they felt a quaking, and heard a noise, and after that, they heard a sound 
« of a great multitude, saying ‘ Let us go hence.’ ” 



Middleton’s free inquiry. 


37 


It is only since the publication of Dr. Middleton’s celebrated 
“ Free Inquiry into the Miraculous powers which are supposed to have 
subsisted in the Christian Church from the Earliest Ages through 
several Centuries ” (published 1749) that a general unbelief in the pre¬ 
sent operation of spiritual powers in our human world has taken pos¬ 
session of Protestant Christendom. This work met with favour, on the 
one hand, from sceptics, who borrowed its principles and reasonings 
to undermine the authority of Christianity, and on the other, from 
over-zealous protestants, eager to avail themselves of any help to 
weaken and discredit the claims of the Romish Church, while it 
helped at the same time to free themselves from that stigma of 
“ superstition” which as “ Rationalism” rose in the ascendant they 
were so anxious to deprecate. Believing in the constant recurrence 
of spiritual manifestations, even to these days, I wish to see and 
front every objection that may be fairly urged thereto, and as the 
Free Inquiry represents a turning point in modern thought, I pro¬ 
pose to make it the occasion of a few hints which the studious reader, 
if so minded, may work out for himself. At all events, I trust that 
in attempting to set forth something of the general course of Chris¬ 
tian belief concerning the intimate connexion and relation of the 
Two Worlds, and the facts in the history of the Church corres¬ 
ponding to that belief, a few preliminary words on the general line 
of objection thereto may not be out of place. 

At the outset of his work, Dr. Middleton frankly admits that the 
part which he had undertaken to defend, was “ not only new, but 
contrary to the general opinion which prevails among Christians.” 
It is indeed very suggestive, and a fact at which he might well 
have paused, that the view he laboured to establish, was directly 
opposed to the history, traditions, and belief of the Christian Church 
for nearly eighteen centuries. 

In a subsequent Vindication of the Free Inquiry, he writes:—“ The 
single point which I maintain is that no standing power of working 
miracles was continued to the Christian Church to which they might 
perpetually appeal for the conviction of unbelievers.” This he main¬ 
tains to be equally true of the Apostles and primitive disciples upon 
whom these gifts were conferred; “They were merely temporary 
and occasional, adapted to particular exigencies thought worthy of 
them by our Lord.” He also tells us that “ For the prevention of 
unnecessary cavils, if from any passages which may be found in the 
Fathers it should appear probable to any that they were favoured 


38 


Middleton’s free inquiry. 


on some occasions with extraordinary illuminations, visions, or 
divine impressions, I shall not dispute the point with them, but 
remind them only, that gifts of that sort were merely personal, and 
not in any manner relating to the question before us.” But these 
concessions are avowedly made only from courtesy to “ weak and 
pious minds,” and to narrow the discussion to a single point. 

There is nothing in the theory of these quotations at all incom¬ 
patible with the facts attested by the Christian Fathers, or with 
spirit-manifestations generally, whatever may become of theories 
about them. But the Free Inquiry, and the Vindication still more 
emphatically, is throughout a denial and laboured argument to 
disprove the reality of the miraculous or supernatural, at all events 
so far as relates to any later period than the apostolic age. And 
that there may be no doubt about it, to those writers who reminded 
Middleton of such concessions as I have quoted, he replies :—“ To 
cut off therefore all reasonings and inferences about them, (spiritual 
visions and revelations) let it be understood that we dispute the 
.facts.” He does not deny that the testimony of the Christian 
Fathers is most explicit, he even displays that testimony with con¬ 
siderable fulness, but he labours to show that it is utterly unworthy 
of credit, that these men were all either weak and credulous, or crafty 
and designing knaves, who would not scruple to lie and deceive in 
the interest of their creed, party, or personal ambition; that “in 
short, they were of a character from which nothing could be expected 
that was candid and impartial, nothing but what a crafty understand¬ 
ing could supply towards confirming those prejudices with which they 
happened to be possessed, especially when religion was the subject.” 

• The constant exercise among them of spiritual gifts which they 
assert, he treats as either collusion, delusion, or invention. He tells 
ns “ they were all derived from the same source of craft and impos¬ 
ture.” The Christian Fathers at his hands have meted out to them 
the measure that is generally meted out to spiritual mediums of 
the present day. There is always a class of sceptical minds with a 
capacity of unlimited belief in human baseness. Of course to such, 
the imputation of imposture is the natural and most obvious mode 
of explaining all mysteries not dreamed of in their philosophy. Let 
us see what are the principles assumed by our author as the basis 
of his reasoning. 

The question he tells us, depends on the joint credibility of the 
pretended facts and of the witnesses who attest them; and the ere- 


Middleton’s eree inquiry. 


39 


dibility of the witnesses, be tests, not by inquiry into tbe credit in 
which they were held by the congregations among whom they 
ministered, and who therefore might be supposed the most com¬ 
petent judges ; but, partly by the representations of their opponents, 
partly by the nature of their speculative opinions and interpretations 
of Scripture, and chiefly by the credibility of the facts which they 
attest, and which are the subject of dispute. “For,” he says, “It 
is common with men, out of crafty and selfish views, to dissemble 
and deceive; or, out of weakness and credulity, to embrace and 
defend with zeal, what the craft of others had imposed upon them: 
but plain facts cannot delude us; cannot speak any other language, 
or give any other information but what flows from nature and truth. 
The testimony therefore of facts as it is offered to our |enses carries 
with it the surest instruction in all cases and to all nations. 

But the question still remains, How are we to test facts foreign to 
our own time and experience? Our experience may be different to 
that of those who profess to have witnessed them, but as we could 
not be cognizant of the facts which they attest, how can we assert it 
to be contrary ? How, if they do not involve a contradiction, or run 
counter to mathematical demonstration, can we pronounce them to 
be impossible ? 

A little reflection too, might have convinced our author that men 
may be deluded by “ plain facts,” as well as by human testimony. 
“ The testimony of facts as it is offered to our senses,” convinced 
our forefathers that the earth was nearly as flat as a pancake. Our 
knowledge is not always the measure of truth; it is not so absolute 
as to be in all cases a fixed and certain criterion.' Nothing is abso¬ 
lutely incredible but the impossible. A fact from its strangeness or 
other cause may appear incredible and yet be true. Truth is 
stranger than fiction.” The credibility of a narrative will always be 
differently estimated by different minds, and even by the same mind 
at different periods. Facts appear credible or otherwise as they 
accord or discord with other facts and principles which the mind 
has accepted. At the present day, there are multitudes of facts 
which appear incredible to the ignorant, or which would so appear 
if they were told of them, but which the man of science knows to be 
true. To the King of Siam it was incredible that water could be¬ 
come solid, to the Aborigines of America it was incredible that 
Columbus by merely human power could foretell the sun’s eclipse. 
All depends on our stand-point of observation. The experiences of 


40 


Middleton’s free inquiry. 


the present writer have led him to accept as true, relations that he 
would once have derided as impossible, and there are many things 
in the writings of the Fathers quoted by Middleton as unworthy of 
credit, and therefore invalidating their testimony, which to him is 
the strongest proof of their veracity, and of the genuineness of the 
facts which they attest; simply, because they accord with other 
evidence, and with well attested corresponding facts of the present 
time, some of which have come under his own observation. 

Knowing however the habits of easy belief which prevailed in the 
early ages of Christianity, and the difficulty alike of verifying or 
disproving particular facts concerning them, it is necessary to exer¬ 
cise caution and discrimination in dealing with evidence in relation 
to the miraculous or supernatural. When for instance, Iraeneus 
(190) tells us that “ the dead are raised and do survive with us many 
years,” we may well doubt the truth of the averment, when we find 
that a Bishop in the same age was unable though challenged to 
produce a single living instance of one so raised—that Iraeneus is 
unsupported in this statement by any other testimony, and that; 
even he does not vouch for it from his own personal knowledge; 
but the case is different when he tells us that among the Christian 
brethren some “ Have fore-knowledge of things future, and have 
visions, and the gift of prophesying; others by imposition of hands 

restore the sick and heal all manner of diseases. Moreover, 

they now speak in all tongues by the spirit of God even as St. Paul 
spoke; even as we ourselves have heard many of the brethren that 
have the prophetical gifts in the Church, and who speak by the 
spirit in all languages, and profitably do make manifest the 
secrets of men’s hearts, and openly publish the mysterious things 
of God.” Here, as I shall shew, his testimony is supported by a 
continued succession of witnesses, and by cognate facts of the present 
day. Of the speaking in unknown tongues by the spirit, he pro¬ 
fesses to speak from his own direct knowledge, and (the genuine¬ 
ness of the passage being unquestioned) we have therefore no 
alternative but to admit his testimony, or brand him as a wilful, 
deliberate liar. 

It will I think be found in the last analysis, that the main ob¬ 
jections to spiritual manifestations, past, or present, resolve them¬ 
selves into an argument, which for brevity may be syllogistically 
stated thus:— 

All Miracles are in their nature incredible. 



Middleton’s eree inquiry. 


41 


Spirit Manifestation are Miracles. 

Spirit Manifestations are incredible.* 

I might summarily dismiss this syllogism by denying major, minor, 
and conclusion; and I think it would not be difficult to sustain such 
denial on satisfactory grounds: let it suffice to point out that its 
principal fallacy arises chiefly from the ambiguity of the leading 
term. Miracle , is used as synonomous with “ violation of natural 
law.” { Now I opine that spiritual manifestations are real, but not 
(in this sense) miraculous,—that they are in perfect harmony with, 
and effected by the operation of natural law, as much so as the most 
familiar natural phenomena; the only difference being, that the law 
is better understood in the one case than in the other. It is not 
Nature’s, or rather God’s laws, but man’s ignorance and presump¬ 
tion that are at fault.) We do not know the natural laws by which 
spirits manifest themselves to men, and exercise certain powers ; the 
facts do not square, or seem to square, with our little systems and 
limited observation, and we deny their reality. Just as, on the same 
principles of reasoning, the savage, if told that men travelled at 
great speed in carriages without animals to draw them, and that they 
communicated their thoughts to each other instantly though hun¬ 
dreds of miles apart, might conclude, that these things were con¬ 
trary to universal experience,” “ violations of nature’s laws,” therefore 
incredible and false. May not the wisdom even of our wisest, be 
but as the wisdom of the savage in comparison with the wisdom that 
lies beyond P 

With these preliminary observations, I proceed to lay before the 

* Some writers, Dr. Middleton for instance, put in a saving clause for Bible miracles; they 
would knock the idol on the head, and then politely bow to it as it falls; but with more rigorous 
logicians and thorough-going sceptics, this reasoning is levelled not only at Church Miracles, but 
at ° a u miracles whatsoever. With them it ultimates in Hume’s famous formula, that—“No 
human testimony can have such force as to prove a miracle, and make it a just foundation for any 
system of Religion.” A dogma which, whatever its demerits, has at least boldness and consistency; 
and if accepted, precludes all further argument and renders investigation unnecessary; for in 
that case, as Hume urges :—“A miracle supported by any human testimony is more properly a 

subject of derision than of argument.” 

Dr. Middleton, we may remark in passing, makes up in other directions for his complimentary 
concession to Christianity, as is evident from the following extract, the italics are his own. I 
present it as a neat little specimen of credulous incredulity 

“There is not a single Historian of antiquity, whether Greek or Latin, who has not recorded 
oracles, prophecies, prodigies and miracles, on the occasion of some memorable events or 
revolutions of states and kingdoms. Many of these are attested in the gravest manner, and by 
the gravest writers, and were firmly believed at the time by the populace; yet it is certain, that 
there is not one of them, which we can reasonably take to be genuine, not one but what was 


42 


THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 


reader the direct evidence of the Fathers of the Church to spiritual 
manifestations in their times, first quoting one or two modern 
authorities. 


CHAPTER VII. 

SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FIRST THREE 
CENTURIES. 

Dean Stanley thus introduces his critique on 1 Corinthians, chap, 
xii:—“ One of the chief characteristics of the Apostolical age, was the 
possession of what are here called ‘ spiritual gifts,’ the signs that 
there was moving to and fro in the Church, a mighty rushing wind, 
a spirit of life, and freedom, and energy, which stirred the dry bones 
of the world, and made those - who felt its influence conscious that 
they were alive, though all around was dead. Before this conscious¬ 
ness of a higher power than their own, the ordinary and natural 
faculties of the human mind seemed to retire, to make way for loftier 
aspirations, more immediate intimations of the Divine power. 
Every believer, male or female, old or young, free or slave, found 
himself instinct with this new life, varying in degree, and according 
to the strength of his natural character, but still sufficiently powerful 
to be a constant witness to him of the reality of the new faith which 
it had accompanied. It resembled in some degree the inspirations 
of the Jewish Judges, Psalmists, and Prophets : it may be illustrated 
by the ecstasies and visions of prophets and dreamers in all reli¬ 
gions; but in its energy and universality it was peculiar to the 
Christian society of the Apostolical age.” 

Admitting that the “ Christian society of the Apostolical age” was 
eminently characterized by the energy and universality of the new 
life and its accompanying spiritual gifts, there is abundant evidence 
to show that these were by no means limited to that age. 

Dr. Whitby observes“It seems evident that at the first founda¬ 
tion of a Christian church among the Gentiles, there were no settled 
pastors to perform the public offices in their assemblies; but they 

either wholly forged, or from the opportunity of some unusual circumstance attending it, improved 
and aggravated into something supernatural. This was undoubtedly the case of all the Heathen 
miracles.” 



THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 


43 


were generally performed by spiritual men who had the gift of pro¬ 
phecy, or were in the assembly excited to that work by an afflatus of 

the Holy Spirit. For the continuance of this gift of prophecy, 

not only in the age of the apostles, but in several succeeding ones, 
we have sufficient evidence from the best writers.” The learned 
Dodwell, who has very fully and temperately discussed this ques¬ 
tion, considers himself to have “ proved that extraordinary prophetic 
gifts were given to others than the Apostles; not only in the first 
and second centuries, but even in the third, down to the times of 
Constantine. All orders of men, and even women, had these gifts, 
especially those who had any eminence in the church. (Church office 
and dignity was regulated by the measure of these gifts—neither 
were there any public duties of the church foreign to the prophetic 
office. The blessing pronounced and implored over the sacramental 
elements was uttered not by a stated minister, but by whomsoever 
among the congregation the prophetic power fell upon, thus moving 
him to the consecration of the sacrament.’* So also with regard to 
ordination of pastors:—“ When the names of men to be appointed for 
pastors were, after an examination, proposed to the church, and 
solemn fasting and prayer were on the occasion used, the prophets 
expressed their sentence; not that of any certain or prepared persons, 
but according to the free pleasure of the prophetic spirit; sometimes 
by the mouth of children; sometimes of grown persons, just as at the 
time the power of the spirit of prophecy impelled them.” Dr. Norton 
observes “ Wherever there was a church,there appears to have been 
also, as an essential part of it, prophets and other gifted persons. 

These extracts may serve to show the high estimation in 
which spiritual gifts were held by the primitive Christians. 
Mosheim, the Church Historian, thus testifies to their useful¬ 
ness. Writing of the second century, he says:—“It is easier to 
conceive than to express how much the miraculous powers and 
extraordinary gifts which the Christians exercised on various occa¬ 
sions, contributed to extend the limits of the church. The gift of 
foreign tongues seems to have gradually ceased as soon as many 
nations became enlightened with the truth, and numerous churches 
of Christians were everywhere established, for it became less neces¬ 
sary than it was at first. But the other gifts with which God fa¬ 
voured the rising church of Christ were, as we learn from numerous 
testimonies of the ancients, still conferred upon particular persons 
here ahd there.” 



44 


THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 


Of the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the Rev. W. Fishbough 
observes :—“ The Epistles of Clement, Barnabas, Ignatius, Polycarp, 
and the Shepherd of Hermas were read in public religious assemblies 
for four hundred years after Christ, and though they were not gene¬ 
rally received into the Canon of the New Testament, they were con¬ 
sidered as possessing an intrinsic value little inferior to that of the 
apostolic writings themselves. The claims and teachings of these 
productions, therefore, must have received the fullest sanction in the 
Churches during that period; and among the very prominent claims 
and teachings of at least several of them, was that which set forth in 
a very prominent light the doctrine of an existing and post-apostolic 
spiritual communication.” Speaking of the epistles of Ignatius, 
“ the immediate disciple and personal associate of the beloved St. 
John,” and appointed by him Bishop of Antioch, the same writer 
observes :—“ Several of them were composed just before his martyr¬ 
dom, and in full prospect of that event, which happened in the year 
106, or, as some authorities have it, in the year 117. They are 
written in a most pure and loving spirit, and everywhere seem to 
take an existing inspiration for granted, the author claiming the 
same for himself, as will be seen particularly from his Epistle to the 
Philadelphians, ch. ii., 11—15, where he incidentally refers to an in¬ 
stance in which the spirit came upon him, causing him to speak in¬ 
voluntarily, exactly in the manner of some modern mediums, and to 
utter warnings appropriate to circumstances he knew not of as a man.” 

Ignatius was condemned to be exposed to the fury of the 
wild beasts in the theatre, for professing the Christian faith; some 
of his friends who accompanied him on his journey from Antioch to 
Rome, wrote an account of his journey and martyrdom; and among 
other remarkable declarations, made the following :—they say, “ The 
night after his (Ignatius’) suffering, we were together watching in 
prayer, that God would vouchsafe to us some assurance of what had 
passed; whereupon several of the company fell into a slumber and 
therein saw visions wherein Ignatius was represented; for which, 
when we had conferred together, we glorified God, the giver of all 
good things, being thereby assured of his blessedness.” Here we 
have express and distinct testimony of the existence of inspiration 
and spiritual vision in the immediate post-Apostolic Age. Polycarp, 
also the personal acquaintan.ee and disciple of the beloved Apostle, 
and appointed by him Bishop of Smyrna, suffered martyrdom at an 
extreme old age in the year 147. From the circular letter addressed 


THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 


45 


by the Church of Smyrna to all sister Churches,* we learn that he 
wa& three days before his death warned in a vision concerning his 
impending fate, which he immediately communicated to his friends, 
saying, “ I shall be burnt alive.” We are told that while on his way 
to the place of execution, there came a voice from Heaven, saying, 
“ Be strong, and quit thyself like a man, Polycarp.” This letter, 
speaking of others who suffered martyrdom at the same time with 
Polycarp, says, “ While they were under torments they were absent 
from the body, or rather, the Lord Jesus Christ stood by them, and 
conversed with them, and revealed things to them inconceivable by 
man, as if they were no longer men, but had already become 
angels.” 

To the same effect it is remarked by the Rev. Thomas Hartley, 
that:—“ The apostolical fathers, Barnabas, Clement, and Hermas 
(whose writings were reverenced as of canonical authority for four 
hundred years, and were read, together with the canonical Scrip¬ 
tures, in many of the Churches), confirm the truth of prophecy, 
divine visions, and miraculous gifts, continuing in the church after 
the apostolical age, both by their testimony and experience; and 
to pass over many other venerable names (among whom Tertullian 
and Origen are witnesses to the same truth afterwards), Eusebius, 
Cyprian, and Lactantius, still lower down, declare that extraordinary 
divine manifestations were not uncommon in their days. Cyprian 
is very express on this subject, praising God on that behalf, with 
respect to himself, to divers of the clergy, and many of the people, 
using these words. ‘ The discipline of God over us never ceases by 
night and by day to correct and reprove; for not only by visions of 
the night, but also by day, even the innocent age of children among 
us is filled with the Holy Spirit, and they see, and hear, and speak, 
in extasy, such things as the Lord vouchsafes to admonish and 
instruct us by, Epistles xvi.: and it was the settled belief of 
the early fathers of the church, that these divine communications, 
for direction, edification, and comfort, would never wholly cease 
therein. 

“ That extraordinary gifts became more rare in the church about 
the middle of the third century, is allowed by Cyprian himself, and 

* One of the versions of this letter which have come down to us, is accompanied by the 
following attestation“ This epistle was transcribed by Cams from the copy of Irenaeus the 
disciple of Polycarp, and I, "Socrates, transcribed it at Corinth. After which, I, Pionius, wrote it 
out from the same copy, which I found by a revelation wherein Polycarp appeared and directed 
me to do it, as I have and do attest in the most solemn manner.” 


46 THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 

« 

such other writers, both contemporary and subsequent, as at the 
same time testified to the reality of them; and they account for it 
from the encouragement given to the pernicious doctrines of Epi¬ 
curus, and other materialists at that time, which disposed many to 
turn everything supernatural and spiritual into mockery and con¬ 
tempt. In the next century, when the profession of Christianity 
became established by Constantine as the religion of the empire, 
and millions adopted it from its being the religion of the court, the 
fashion of the times, or the road to temporal emoluments ; then 
Christianity appeared indeed, more gorgeous in her apparel, but 
became less glorious within ; was more splendid in form, but less 
vigorous in power; so what the church gained in surface, she lost 
in depth. She suffered her faith to be corrupted by the impure 
mixtures of the heathenish philosophy, whilst the honours, riches, 
and pleasures of the world, insinuated themselves into her affec¬ 
tions, stole away her graces, and so robbed her of her best treasure; 
insomuch, that many have made it a doubt whother in the time 
here spoken of, Paganism was more Christianized, or Christianity, 
more Paganized.” 

But, to the testimony of the Fathers themselves. 

About the year 150, Justin Martyr, a learned Samaritan who by 
the study of philosophy had been led to embrace the Christian 
Faith, testifies in this wise:—“ The prophetic gifts remain with us 
even to this day,—with us also are to be seen both men and women 
having gifts from the spirit of God.” Athenagoras (178,) in his 
Apology for the Christians, addressed to the Boman Emperor, thus 
writes:—“ I call them prophets, who, being out of themselves and 
their own thoughts, did utter forth whatsoever by the impelling 
power of the Spirit he wrought in them; while the Divine operator 
served himself of them or their organs even as men do of a trumpet, 
blowing through it. Thus have we prophets for witnesses and 
affirmers of our faith; and is it not equal and worthy of human 
reason, 0 ye Emperors, to yield up your faith to the Divine spirit 
who moves the mouths of the prophets as his instruments ?” 

About the year 171, appeared in Phrygia a man of austere habits 
and severe morality named Montanus; he was not free from ex¬ 
travagancies, but he denounced with boldness the vices and follies of 
the time, and strove to reform the discipline of the church. He 
maintained that revelation had not received its full development, 
that the system which was in its infancy under the Law and the 


THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 


47 


Prophets, and in its youth under the Gospel, was to be brought to 
its maturity by the Paraclete, or Comforter promised by Jesus to 
his disciples. He was frequently thrown into a state of ecstacy, in 
which he gave forth utterances as from a Spirit, which proclaimed 
itself to be no other than the Paraclete. He had numerous dis¬ 
ciples, among whom was the celebrated Tertullian. Wherever a 
body or church of Montanists existed, there were among its members 
a greater or less number of these energumens, or mediums. An 
Historian of them relates, that when under this spiritual influence 
their breasts would heave and swell in a strange manner, and that 
they constantly averred as well when under the operation of the 
spirit as out of it, that the organs of their bodies, were by it over¬ 
ruled and their tongues constrained to utter what they did without 
their own foreknowledge, and whomsoever the agitation seized in 
their assemblies, whether man or woman, young or old, the person 
so agitated was not to be restrained. Two ladies of rank and fortune 
named Maximilla and Priscilla, who showed the sincerity of their 
faith by the sacrifices they made for it, were especially distinguished as 
spiritual seeresses and prophetesses. At the latter end of this century, 
we have the testimony of Irenseus as quoted in the last chapter. 

Early in the third century, Tertullian, in his book Be Anima, 
presents us with the following curious passage:—“We had a right, 
after St. John, to expect prophesyings, and we do acknowledge the 
said spiritual gifts; for there is at this day living among us, a sister 
who is a partaker of the gift of revelations, which she receives under 
extasy in the spirit in the public congregation; wherein she con¬ 
verses with Angels, sometimes also with the Lord, and sees and 
hears divine mysteries, and discovers the hearts of some persons, 
and administers medicine to such as desire it; and when the Scrip¬ 
tures are read, or psalms are being sung, or they are preaching, 
or prayers are being offered up, subjects from thence are ministered 
in her visions. We had once some discourse touching the soul 
while this sister was in the spirit. After the public services were 
over, and most of the people gone, she acquainted us with what she 
saw, as the custom was; for these things are heedfully digested that 
they may be duly proved. Among other things she then told us that 
a corporeal soul appeared to her, and the spirit was beheld by her, 
being of a quality not void and empty, but rather such as might 
be handled, delicate, and of the colour of light and air, and in all 
respects bearing the human form. 


48 


THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 


Here we have an exact counterpart of the spiritual clairvoyants 
and of the speaking and healing spiritual media of the present day. 
The description of the “corporeal soul” beheld by this ancient 
christian-seeress, accords with the “luciform asthereal vehicle” 
nvyouTts oznpoi, 0 f Pythagoras and Plato, the “Spiritual body” 
of St. Paul, the “Nerve-spirit” of the Seeress of Prevorst, the 
“Spiritual man” of Swedenborg; the “ Spiritual corporeity” of 
Isaac Taylor, the “ Inner Being” of Davis, and the “ Perisprit” of 
Kardec. Can this agreement be the result of accidental concidence; 
or does it arise from the consistency inherent in genuine outstanding 
reality ? 

Tertullian also, (in the style of Elijah challenging the priests of 
Baal) challenges all Heathendom to a trial with the Christians in 
open court before their own tribunals to exorcise evil spirits, and to do 
those things which the Christians were able to perform. And 
Cyprian, the pu pil of Tertullian, (253) invites Demetrius, Proconsul 
of Africa, to come and witness how, under the adjuration of Chris¬ 
tians, demons were ejected, howling and groaning from the bodies 
of the possessed. The same writer, as we have seen, testifies that 
“ Even the innocent age of children is filled among us with 
the Holy Spirit; and they see, and hear, and speak in ec¬ 
stasy such things as the Lord vouchsafes to admonish and instruct 
us by.” 

Origen, (240) says “There are no more any prophets, nor any 
miracles among the Jews, of which there are large vestiges found 
among Christians.” Gregory, Bishop of Neo-Ceseraea, the pupil of 
Origen, received by common consent the title of Thaumaturgus, or 
Wonder-worker. The miracles recorded of him by his namesake of 
Nyssa, were not published till a century after, and therefore may 
have but little authority, but the appellation bestowed upon him, and 
this subsequent record of the traditions concerning him, sufficiently 
indicate the common belief of the Christians of that time. 

These testimonies could be multiplied, and instances might also be 
given of many, who about this time w r ere led by spiritual-revelations 
to embrace the Christian Faith. A writer in the Encyclopaedia 
Metropolitana goes further; he says :—“We might easily prove by 
citations from the Fathers, that one object of the experiences to which 
the Christian neophyte was subject, was his introduction to a lawful 
communion with the spirits of the departed.” Sufficient has been 
adduced to show that spiritual manifestations continued, and were 


THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 


49 


common through at least the first two, and greater part of the third, 
centuries of the Christian era. 

The authorities above quoted are not uuknown men, of obscure 
position, or disreputable character; their names stand bright and 
foremost in Ecclesiastical History. They proved their sincerity by 
the perils they braved, and the martyrdom which some of them 
suffered for their Christian Faith. The facts they attest were not 
done secretly, but performed openly in their assemblies. They speak 
of them in greater part from the evidence of living witnesses, and 
from their own personal knowledge. They challenge investigation 
into their truth, and boldly carry their appeal before magistrates and 
emperors. And is all this to be set aside by a priori reasonings and 
abstract speculations, by the sneers and calumnies of men who were 
the bitter assailants of the Christian Faith ? or, because in common 
with the age in which they lived, they entertained upon other sub¬ 
jects erroneous opinions and modes of reasoning: or, because they 
accepted and related as facts some things which a closer scrutiny 
has shown to be probably unfounded P Are we upon these and like 
grounds to record our verdict against them as false witnesses, attest¬ 
ing the reality of fables and lies P Let all the objections that have 
been urged be put in the opposite scale against their successive and 
concurrent testimony, and if we hold the balance fairly, it will not 
kick the beam. 

We have only to add, that the same authorities testify that spiritual 
manifestations were not confined to the Christian Church, though 
they may have been displayed there in greater fulness and power. 
Dr. Middleton tells us that it is constantly affirmed by the primitive 
Christian writers and apologists—“ That there were a number of 
Magicians, Necromancers, or Conjurors, both among the Gentile 
and the Heretical Christians, who had each their particular demons, 
or evil spirits for their associates, perpetually attending on their 
persons, and obsequious to their commands; by whose help they 
could perform miracles, foretell future events, call up the souls 
of the dead, exhibit them to open view, and infuse into people 
whatever dreams or visions they thought fit.” In confirmation 
of this, I may quote Athenagoras in the second century, who 
writes:—“We do not deny that in different places,,;;cities, and 
countries, there are some extraordinary works performed in the 
name of idols; from which some have received benefit, others 
harm.” Origen, in the third century* allows the prediction of 


50 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


future events and the cure of diseases among the heathen by the 
aid of demons, but challenges the proof that those who thus 
cure and foretell are not bad, but good, and worthy to be held 
in a manner as gods. And Lactantius, in the fourth century, 
speaking of certain Philosophers, who held, that the soul perished 
with the body, says:—“They durst not have declared such an 
Opinion in the presence of any Magician, or, if they had done it, 
he would have confuted them upon the spot, by sensible experi¬ 
ments; by calling up souls from the dead, and rendering them 
visible to human eyes, and making them speak and foretell future 
events.” 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE MIDDLE AGES.—ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 

The spiritual gifts with which, as we have seen, the early 
Christian Church was so largely endowed, appear to have 
declined from the latter part of the third, and during the fourth 
and subsequent centuries. Bnt though less .frequent, or want¬ 
ing in the same strength of evidence, there is sufficient evidence 
to establish their continued existence. Augustine, asserts that 
miracles were so frequent and extraordinary in his time (the latter 
part of the fourth century) that large accounts were written and 
published of them, and read to the people in the churches : some of 
these are said to have been done before many witnesses, some in the 
public assemblies, and some in his own presence* The learned 

* In connection with Augustine, I may mention that his friend, Evodius. a Bishop in Africa, 
corresponded with him concerning spirit-manifestations, of the reality of which Evodius was well 
persuaded from his own experience. Among other instances, he says" I remember well that 
Profuturus, Privatus, and Servitius, whom I had known in the monastery here, appeared to me, 
and talked to me, after their decease; and what they told me, happened. "Wias it their souls winch 
appeared to me, or was it some other spirits, who assumed their forms ?” He also inquiresIf 
the soul on quitting its (mortal) body does not retain a certain subtile body with which it appears, 
and by means of which it is transported from one spot to another?” Augustine, in reply, acknow¬ 
ledges that there is a great distinction to be made between true and false visions, and that he 
could wish that he had some sure means of discerning them correctly, and relates a remarkable 
stoiy in point, which is worth repeating. 

An intimate friend of his, a physician named Gennadius, well known at Carthage for his great 
talents and his kindness to the poor, doubted whether there was another life. One day he saw in 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 


51 


Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, in his controversy with the Arians 
appeals to the testimony of daemons speaking through the vocal or¬ 
gans of persons, in confirmation of the catholic doctrine; and though 
his opponents essay to evade the force of this testimony, its spiritual 
origin is not denied by them. It would be easy to multiply evidence 
from the Fathers of the fourth and later centuries, but it must be 
frankly confessed, that their testimony in general is so far vitiated 
by the relation of apparently fabulous stories, monkish legends, and 
“ pious lies,” that it ceases to be reliable. 

The church had indeed fallen from its first estate; true, it had 
prospered to outward seeming, had increased in numbers—wealth— 
political influence; kings had become its nursing-fathers, Christians 
were not now persecuted—except by one another. But though the 
branches had spread far and wide, much of the vital sap was dried 
up within. Maxims of expediency, worldly ambition, and internal 
feuds, had made its paths crooked and darkened the page of its 
history. Ichabod, was written upon its front. The spiritual glory, 
if it had not wholly departed, had waxed dim and faint. The word 
of God was made of none effect by its traditions. It had bartered 
away the liberty wherewith Christ had made it free for the yoke of 
dogmatic theology-*-the primitive simplicity of the gospel for super¬ 
stitions and speculations imported from the east and from the west. 
Sectarian bigotry usurped the place of Christian brotherhood, and 
instead of “ Little children love one another,” might be heard the 
loud “anathema—maranatha,” and the vain babble of contending 
sects. Christian brawled with Christian, even in the temple, and 
the blood of the priest flowed around the altar. Men by their 
strifes and hatreds repelled from them the bright messengers of 
peace and love; the silver cords were loosed, the pitcher was broken 
at the fountain, the harmony of the spheres could not blend with 


a dream a young man who said to him—“ Follow mehe followed him in spirit, and found 
himself in a city where he heard most, admirable melody. 

Another time, he saw the same young man, who said to him—“Do you know me?” “Very 
well,” answered he. “ And whence comes it that you know me ?” He related to him what he 
had showed him in the city whither he had before led him. The young man then added—“ V as 
it in a dream or awake that you saw all that?” “ In a dream,” he replied. The young man then 
asked—“ Where is your body now?” “In my bed,” he said. “Do you know that now you see 
nothing with the eyes of your body ?” “ I know it, ” answered he. “ Well then, with what eyes 
do you behold me?” As he hesitated and knew not what to reply, the young man said to him— 
In the same way that you see and hear me now that your eyes are shut, and your senses asfeep; - 
/ thus, after your death, you will live, you will see, you will hear, hut with eyes and ears of the 
spirit; so jjpubt not that there is another life after the present one.? This account was given by 
Gehnadius to St. Augustine, with the remark—“ In this manner was all my doubt removed.” 

E 2 


52 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


the discord of earthly passions. Celestial visitants conld bnt stand 
aside and mourn over the errors of their brethren of earth; only 
here and there was communion with mortals now possible to 
them:— 

** For when the heart is full of din, 

And doubt beside the portal waits. 

They can but listen at the gates, 

And hear the household jar within.” 

Not that the church had become wholly corrupt, the gospel-salt 
had not wholly lost its savour,—there were still minds and hearts 
receptive of its influence, and though it may not be possible always 
to discriminate the true from the false in the materials before us, 
there is reason to believe that the spiritual privileges of the earlier 
and purer ages were not entirely withdrawn, that humble-minded 
and devout Christians, still received direct instruction and guidance 
from the spirit world. 

Fleming, in his Vocabulary of Philosophy, says : “ In the scholas¬ 

tic ages, the belief in return from the dead, apparitions and 
spirits was universal.” The British Quarterly Review for October, 
1861, in an article on “Christianity and the two Civilizations,” 
remarks :—“ The frequent intervention of supernatural agencies in 
human affairs was an admitted fact in the faith of the ancients, and 
hardly less so in the faith of the Middle Ages. (To reject all credence 
of that nature is peculiar to very recent times.” Mr. Mori son in his 
Life of St. Bernard, observesMiracles, ghostly apparitions, 
divine and demoniac interference with sublunary affairs were matters 
which a man of the twelfth century would less readily doubt of 
than of his own existence. To disbelieve such phenomena would 
have been considered good prima facie evidence of unsoundness of 
mind.” He considers them, “ as belonging to the time as much as 
feudal castles and mail armour do, they must form part of a picture of 
it.” And Dr. Middleton, (Preface to Free Inquiry) admits “ As far 
as church historians can illustrate or throw light upon anything, 
there is not a single point in all history so constantly, explicitly, and 
unanimously affirmed by them all, as the continual succession of 
those (miraculous) powers through all ages, from the earliest father 
that first mentions them down to the time of the Reformation. 
Which same succession is still farther deduced by persons of the 
most eminent character for their probity, learning, and dignity in 
the Roman Church to this very day.” 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


53 


Speaking of the Roman Church, it is remarked by Vaughan, 
that, “ Her history is dotted all along with seemingly well authenti¬ 
cated and well corroborated facts which go to prove that faith as 
something more than a mere superstitious fancy.” Thus, in the 
twelfth century, St. Hildegarde is said to have received revelations 
and spiritual visions—to have been surrounded at times with a 
divine radiance, and to have possessed supernatural gifts of language 
and prophecy; of discerning the thoughts of others, and of healing 
diseases; nor was this accredited only by the vulgar, or by ignorant 
or knavish monks; St. Bernard makes no doubt of the reality of 
her spiritual gifts and desires a place in her prayers. “ Haughty 
nobles and learned ecclesiastics,” says Vaughan, “ sought her 
counsel, and Emperors and Popes corresponded on familiar terms 
with the seeress.”— (Hours with the Mystics.) 

St. Bernard, the most marked representative and fitting type of 
that central period of the Middle Ages, had visions and revelations, 
in which future events were revealed to him, and which he predicted 
with the greatest particularity and accuracy. Further, his recent 
biographer, Mr. Morison, (who himself is steeped to the chin in 
incredulity) gives this relation (Book iv., Chap. 2):— 

“ But if we are to belive the testimony of eye-witnesses—ten eye¬ 
witnesses—there was that in Bernard’s progress through the Rhine 
country which might well excite the intensest curiosity and admira¬ 
tion. His journey, we are told, was marked by a constant exhibi¬ 
tion of miraculous power, a power not obscurely or furtively dis¬ 
played, but of daily recurrence before large multitudes. Herman, 
Bishop of Constance, and nine others, kept a diary of what they saw 
with their own eyes ;* ‘ Many miracles from this time shone forth, 
which, if we should pass over, the very stones would proclaim.’ . . . 
The halt, the blind, the deaf and the dumb, were brought from all 
parts to be touched by Bernard. The patient was presented to 
him, whereupon he made the sign of the cross upon the part 
affected, and the cure was perfect. The church bells sent forth a 
merry peal, and a chorus of voices was heard singing, ‘ Christ have- 
mercy on us, Keyrie eleison, all the saints help us.’ Indeed, this 
chanting was well understood to mean by those too far off to see, 

* Mr. Morison here remarks in a foot note:—“This account would seem to have been drawn 
up with the express purpose of avoiding cavil and of attracting notice. The number and character 
of the witnesses are given, and they solemnly assert that they saw with their own eyes the miracles 
recorded A very scanty spicelegium has been given above. See St. Bern. Op., Vol. II., Col. 
1165, et seq 


54 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


that Bernard had just performed another miracle. At Cambray, 
we read:—‘ In the Church of St. John, after the mass, a boy, deaf 
and dumb from his mother’s womb, received his hearing, and spoke, 
and the people wondered. He had sat down beside me deaf and 
dumb, and having been presented to Bernard, in the self-same 
hour he both spoke and heard. The joyful excitement was scarcely 
over before a lame old man was raised up, and walked. But now a 
miracle occurred which, beyond all others, filled us with astonish¬ 
ment. A boy, blind from his birth, whose eyes were covered with a 
white substance—if indeed those could be called eyes in which there 
was neither colour, nor use, nor even so much as the usual cavity 
of an eye, this boy received his sight from the imposition of 
Bernard’s hand. We ascertained the fact by numerous proofs, 
hardly believing our senses, that in such eyes as his any sight could 
reside.’ In the same place, a woman who had a withered hand was 
healed. * In the town of Rosnay, they brought to him in a waggon 
a man ill and feeble, for whom nothing seemed to remain but the 
grave. Before a number of the citizens and soldiers, Bernard placed 
his hands upon him, and immediately he walked without difficulty; 
to the astonishment of all, he followed on foot the vehicle in which 
he had just before been carried.’ 

“ ‘ On another day we came to Molesme, which is a monastery from 
which formerly our fathers went forth who founded the order of 
Citeaux. It was on Wednesday, and they received the man of God 
with great devotion. When Bernard was seated in the guest-house, 
a certain man, blind with one eye, came in, and falling on his knees, 
begged his mercy! Bernard made the sign of the cross wdth his 
holy fingers, and touched his blind eye, and immediately it received 
sight, and the man returned thanks to God. About an hour after¬ 
wards, as it was getting dusk, the holy man went out to lay hands 
on the sick who were waiting before the doors. The first who was 
cured was a boy blind with the right eye, who on shutting the left 
eye, with -which alone he had seen previously, discerned all things 
clearly, and told at once wbat anything was which we showed to him. 
And again, at the same place, a little girl who had a weakness in 
the feet, and had been lame from her birth, was healed by the impo¬ 
sition of hands ; and her mother bounded for joy, that now for the 
first time she saw her child standing and walking. Such is the 
record left by men who had probably as great a horror of mendacity 
as any who have lived before or after them.” 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


55 


The following year, in France, the same marvels accompanied Ber¬ 
nard. “ Godfrey (his secretary) gives the following instance of his 
abbot’s supernatural power, of which he was himself eye-witness. ‘ At 
Toulouse, in the church of St. Saturninus, in which we were lodged, 
was a certain regular canon, named John. John had kept his bed for 
seven months, and was so reduced that his death was expected 
daily. His legs were so shrunken that they were scarcely larger 
than a child’s arms. He was quite unable to rise to satisfy the 
wants of nature. At last his brother canons refused to tolerate his 
presence any longer among them, and thrust him out into the neigh¬ 
bouring village. When the poor creature heard of Bernard’s 
proximity, he implored to be taken to him. Six men, therefore, 
carrying him as he lay in bed, brought him into a room close to 
that in which we were lodged. The abbot heard him confess 
his sins, and listened to his entreaties to be restored to 
health, Bernard mentally prayed to God:—‘ Behold 0 Lord, they 
seek for a sign, and our words avail nothing, unless they be con¬ 
firmed with signs following.’ He then blessed him and left the 
chamber and so did we all. In that very hour the sick man arose 
from his couch, and, running after Bernard, kissed his feet with a 
devotion which cannot be imagined by any one who did not see it. 
One of the canons meeting him, nearly fainted with fright, thinking 
he saw his ghost. John and his brethren then retired to the church 
and sang a Te Deum .’ ” 

We learn that Bernard himself became perplexed and uneasy at 
these wonders. He knew that they were not done by his own 
power, and disclaimed all merit in them. He said:—“I can’t 
think what these miracles mean, or why God has thought fit to 
work them through such a one as I. I do not remember to have 
read, not even in Scripture, of anything more wonderful. Signs 
and wonders have been wrought by holy men and by deceivers. I 
feel conscious neither of holiness nor deceit. I know I have not 
those saintly merits which are illustrated by miracles. I trust, how¬ 
ever, that I do not belong to the number of those who do wonderful 
things in the name of God, and yet are unknown of the Lord.” At 
last, he concluded that miracles were wrought not for the sake of 
him through whom they were wrought, but for the good of those 
who see them or hear of them; in order that they might be ad¬ 
monished, and stimulated to a more active love of holiness. 

Our old English chroniclers—not merely the most credulous, 


56 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


such as Roger of Wendover, but the more trustworthy, like 
William of Malmesbury, and the venerable Bede, abound with 
stories of spirit revelation by voice and vision.* The illustrious 
Dr. Arnold, thinks that as a general rule the student should 
disbelieve these accounts—“But,” he adds, “with regard to some 
miracles, he will see that there is no strong a priori improbability 
in their occurrence, but rather the contrary; as, for instance, where 
the first missionaries of the gospel in a barbarous country are 
said to have been assisted by a manifestation of the spirit of 
power, and if the evidence appears to warrant his belief, he will 
readily and gladly yield it. And in doing so he will have the 
countenance of a great man (Burke), who, in his fragment of 
English History, has not hesitated to express the same sentiments. 
Hor will he be unwilling, but most thankful, to find sufficient 
grounds for believing that not only at the beginning of the gospel 
but in ages long afterward, believing prayer has received extra¬ 
ordinary answers, that it has been heard even in more than it 
might have dared to ask for. Yet again, if the gift of faith—the 
gift as distinguished from the grace—the faith which removes 
mountains, has been given to any in later times in remarkable 
measure, the mighty works which such faith may have wrought 
cannot be incredible in themselves to those who remember our Lord’s 
promise; and if it appears from satisfactory evidence that they 
were wrought actually, we shall believe them, and believe with 

joy.” 

This passage occurs in the Lectures on Modem Histoi'y , delivered 
by Dr. Arnold, to his pupils at Oxford University, and he has 
wisely expressed himself cautiously, and in the most guarded man¬ 
ner; but his observations display in a marked degree the spirit 
in which these investigations should be conducted, and the principles 

* One of these narratives has furnished the subject of Alexander Smith’s Epic— Edwin 
of Deira. According to this story, as told by Bede and others. Prince Edwin, driven from his 
native kingdom, wandered abont in exile; at the lowest point of his fortunes, there one night 
appeared to him an apparitional man, who conversed with him, encouraged him with prophecies of 
a successful future, and having hinted that there was a better religion than Paganism, laid his 
hand on the Prince’s head, telling him to remember that sign, for that at a future time it would 
be repeated, when more would be revealed to him. All turned out as had been predicted. And 
years afterwards, when a favourable opportunity presented itself for abjuring the old religion in 
favour of Christianity, and the king hesitated, and anxiously debated the question; lo! the 
apparitional man, with the well-known sign, came to him again. The king then called his council 
together, and after solemn deliberation, Paganism was abandoned, and the king and liis subjects 
were baptised, and embraced the Christian faith. 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


57 


by which our judgment should be determined. I would earnestly 
commend them to the consideration of both clerical and lay critics 
of spiritual phenomena. 

Turning to another phase of the subject, I may remark that 
nothing in modern spiritualism has probably excited so much 
ridicule, as the averments made of mediums being raised from 
the ground and borne through the air by spirit-power in the 
presence of witnesses; and yet this phenomenon has frequent 
parallels in bygone times. Not to speak of scripture instances, 
such as those of the Prophet Ezekiel, and the Apostle Phillip, 
(Ezekiel iii. 14, viii. 1— 4. Acts viii., 39.) we find numerous well- 
authenticated cases of a similar kind. St. Theresa, whose veracity 
and piety I think will not be disallowed even by Protestants, in 
her account of her life, says:—“ Sometimes my whole body was 
carried with my soul, so as to be raised from the ground, but 
this was seldom. When I wished to resist these raptures, there 
seeined to me somewhat of such mighty force under my feet, 
which raised me up, that I knew not what to compare it to. All 
my resistance availed little. . . . Further, I confess it also produced 
in me great fear, (which at first was extreme) to see that a massy 
body should be thus raised up from the earth. For though it be 
the spirit that draws it after it; and though it be done with great 
sweetness and delight, (if it be not resisted), yet our senses are 
not thereby lost: at least, I was so perfectly in my senses that 
I understood I was then raised up.” A bishop, a learned Dominican, 
the sisterhood of her convent, and other witnesses, testify to the 
truth of these relations. I might further adduce such instances 
as those of St. Catherine, St. Philip Neri, and Richard, Abbot of St. 
Yanne de Yerdun, who (1036) “ appeared elevated from the ground 
while he was saying mass in presence of the Duke Galizon, his sons, 
and a great number of his lords and soldiers.” To these instances 
may, in later times, be added, those of Ignatius Loyola, who “was 
raised up from the ground to the height of two feet, while his body 
shone like light;” and of the martyr of freedom and reason, Savona¬ 
rola of Florence, the Church Reformer of the fifteenth century, who, 
according to Burlamachi, was seen, when absorbed in devotion, a few 
days before his death, to remain at a considerable height suspended 
from the floor of his dungeon. Mr. Madden, in his Life of Savona¬ 
rola, in adverting to this incident, observes:—“ To any one conver¬ 
sant with the lives of the saints, it will be well known that similar 


58 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


phenomena are recorded in numerous instances, and that the evidence 
on which some of them rest, is as reliable as any human testimony 
can be, in confirmation of any occurrence whatsoever that passes 
under the observation of persons deserving of credit. The fact is 
authentically attested of St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Dominick, St* 
Dunstan, St. Francis of Assissium, St. Teresa, St. Cajetan, St. 
Bernard Ptoloemaei, St. Catherine of Ricci, and several others. 

In his Lives of the Saints, (Vol. Y., ISTote on St. Phillip Heri,) Butler 
tells us that some of these facts are narrated by “persons of 
undoubted veracity, who testify that they themselves were eye¬ 
witnesses of these facts; others were so careful and diligent writers 
that their authority cannot be questioned.” 

Mr. Rich, in the volume on The Occult Sciences, in the En¬ 
cyclopaedia Metropolitana, after citing some of the above and other 
similar instances, remarks:—**The most instructive part of these 
phenomena in recent times, indeed, is the light they cast on ecclesias¬ 
tical history! and the proofs they afford that one and the same 
sanctuary of nature is open to all.”* 

In short, as Calmet remarks:—“We have in history several 
instances of persons full of religion and piety, who, in the fervor 
of their orisons, have been taken up into the air, and remained there 
for some time.” Among other instances of this kind which came 
under his own observation, he says:—“ I know a nun, to whom it 
has often happened, in spite of herself, to see herself thus raised 
up in the air to a certain distance from the earth, it was neither from 
choice, nor from any wish to distinguish herself, since she was truly 
confused at it.” 

Speaking of the fifteenth century — a century which, while it closed 
the Middle Ages, “was preparing everywhere for Europe a new 
advance in civilization, and for the revival of human reason” —Pro¬ 
fessor Yillari says :— “ All nature seemed to be full of occult powers, 
of mysterious spirits that held converse with mortals.” In this age, 

* It is well known that Roman Catholics believe that such things are still of frequent occurrence. 
The Univers lately exulted over a saint who figures in the Roman Liturgy as St. Cupertin. He is 
described “ as appearing to touch the earth with regret, the slightest thought of heaven where 
dwell his desires detaching from earth his body, already spiritualised.” He was often, it is 
declared, observed “ to rise in the air to a considerable height in presence of a crowd, silent with 
astonishment.” Nor is this phenomenon peculiar to Roman Catholics. HiGlanvil’s Sadducismus 
Triumphatus, (published 1681), is an account of a man being raised by invisible agency and floating 
in the air, in the presence of witnesses, and there is a quaint illustration given of it in the frontis¬ 
piece ; which, (except for the style in which it is executed,) might be supposed to have been 
intended to illustrate a similar incident in the life of Mr. Home. 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


59 


Eicino taught the doctrine of the ISTeo-Platonists, that the soul may 
in ecstasy attain to divine visions, see beyond the present, and 
predict the future. Machiavelli thought “ the air we breathe to be 
full of spirits, who, in compassion to mortals, forewarned them by 
sinister omens of the evils about to come to pass.” At a little later 
period, Guicciardini held that—“Aerial spirits exist which hold 
familiar converse with men, for I have had practical experience of 
this, in cases that make it appear most certain.” And Cardan 
believed in visions, presentiments, and warnings; and that he had 
himself frequently been saved from great perils by the friendly 
monitions of his guardian spirit. 

1 have incidentally referred to Savonarola, let me briefly record 
my admiration of his character. He reminds me of one of the 
prophets of Ancient Israel. In the midst of a troublous time and 
evil generation he appeared in the spirit and power of Elias, warring 
against the superstitions, vices, and corruptions of church and state; 
calling upon men to repent, to forsake their idols and worship the 
living God, He made no distinction of persons —though but a poor 
monk, he boldly confronted and sternly rebuked Lorenzo the Mag¬ 
nificent. Reformer, patriot, seer, prophet, the torch which he held 
aloft lit up the darkness of his time, though it kindled the flames of 
his own martyrdom. He had his spiritual visions—revelations— 
inspiration. Of the latter, he distinguishes three modes—“ God,” 
he says, “infuses it into the soul; gives wisdom as he did to 
Solomon and David; or, visions by means of the angelic spirits. In 
each of these ways I have been always assured of the truth by the 
before-mentioned illumination.” His life corresponded with his 
teaching, like Chaucer’s poor parson 

« Christ’s lore, and his Apostles twelve 
He taught, but first he followed it himselve.” 

His prophetic character was very generally recognized by his 
fellow citizens in his life-time, and after his death, so greatly did 
they reverence his memory, that a medal was struck, in his honour, 
with the portrait of the Saviour on the one side, and Savonarola on 
the other. 

Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe, speaking of the Christian spiritualism of 
Savonarola’s time, remarks that:—“ To the mind of the really spiri¬ 
tual Christian of those ages, the air of this lower world was not a blank 
empty space from which all spiritual sympathy and life have fled; 
but, like the atmosphere with which Raphael has sun’ounded the 


60 


ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 


Sistine Madonna, it was full of sympathizing faces—a great * cloud 
of witnesses.’ The holy dead were not gone from earth; the Church 
visible and invisible were in close, loving, and constant sympathy, still 
loving, praying, and watching together, though with a veil between. 

“ It was at first with no idolatrous intention, that the prayers of 
the holy dead were invoked in acts of worship. Their prayers were 
asked simply because they were felt to be as really present with their 
former friends, and as truly sympathetic as if no veil of silence had 
fallen between. In time this simple belief had its intemperate and 
idolatrous exaggerations; the Italian soil always seeming to have a 
volcanic forcing power, by which religious ideas overblossomed 
themselves, and grew wild and ragged with too much enthusiasm 5 
and, as so often happens with friends on earth, these too-much loved 
and revered invisible friends became eclipsing screens instead of 
transmitting mediums of God’s light to the soul. 

“ Tet we can see in the hymns of Savonarola, who perfectly repre¬ 
sented the attitude of the highest Christian of those’ times, how 
fervent might be the love and veneration of departed saints without 
lapsing into idolatry, and with what an atmosphere of warmth and 
glory the true belief of the unity of the Church, visible and invisible, 
could inspire an elevated soul amid the discouragements of an un¬ 
believing and gainsaying world.” 


It is a very common notion among Protestants, that all alleged 
supernatural occurrences in the Roman Catholic Church, are either 
the delusions of ignorant enthusiasts, or the inventions of priestcraft. 
It is but bare justice to that Church, to point out that whether its 
miracles are genuine or not, it only admits them after a most 
thorough and searching investigation. Roman Catholic writers 
divide miracles into three classes: first, those which rest only on 
rumour and oral tradition; secondly, those attested by writers of 
credit and authority, who were either witnesses of what they relate, 
or who had access to the materials for arriving at a correct judgment, 
and who published their works under circumstances which place 
them above suspicion; and thirdly, those which have been examined 
by the Church in her processes for the canonization of saints, and 
have then been published as true miracles. The first class may at 
once be set aside; few intelligent Catholics would appeal to them as 
evidence; no well-informed and ingenuous Protestant would fasten 
upon them as fairly representative of the rest. Of the second class, 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 


61 


I need add nothing to what has been adduced, though a volume on 
it might be written. But of the third class it may be well to write a 
somewhat particular account. 

The working of miracles is a condition absolutely necessary in the 
canonization of saints; it being regarded as the only assured proof of 
their final perseverance in those holy dispositions which entitle them 
to that high honour. Hence the taking cognizance of miracles for 
this end, has always been the province of the chief pastors of the 
Homan Church, as requiring the greatest circumspection. We have 
an example of the strictness of the examinations wont to be ob¬ 
served, in the letter of Honorius III, about the year 1220. It is 
addressed to the general chapter of the Cistercian order, and the 
Bishop of the place. In this letter the Pope narrates, “ That many 
bishops and religious persons, together with the Abbot and Convent 
of St. Mauritius, had some time before given him an account of 
numbers of miracles wrought by the intercession of their late holy 
Abbot, St. Mauritius; and of the constant and general opinion which 
all that country had of his sanctity; and therefore had entreated him 
to have him canonized. That in consequence of this application, he 
had sent a commission to the Bishop of Lyons and the Abbot of 
St. Loup, to make a juridical examination of those miracles, and of 
the life of the holy Abbot, in order to have a just and solid ground 
for granting this request. That these commissioners had indeed sent 
him a list of many great miracles, said to be wrought by God through 
the merits of the holy Abbot, and attested upon oath by several 
witnesses. But as it did not appear by the account sent him, that 
the commissioners had examined the witnesses severally upon the 
subjects and circumstances of their attestations, with that care and 
diligence requisite in an affair of such importance—that therefore he 
Could not proceed upon their information; and ordered the said 
general chapter, and the diocesan bishop, to cause the witnesses to 
be re-examined separately, with that care and diligence which is 
wont, and ought to be used in such matters.” 

“ This,” says Dr. Hay, in his Scripture Doctrine of Miracles Dis¬ 
played, “is the substance of his Holiness’s rescript, as related in 
Decret. lib. 2., tit. 20, cap. Venerabile de Testib et Attestat.” 

The following extract from the decree of Pope Nicholas V., for the 
canonization of St. Bernardin of Sienna, is a further illustration of 
the caution used by the Holy See in these matters :— 

“ In the time of our predecessor Eugenius IV., so many miracles 


62 


BOMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 


were reported to have been done by the merits and intercession of 
St. Bernardin, that the most pressing solicitations were made to the 
Apostolic See to have the reality of those miracles inquired into with 
proper care; to the end, that after the truth was manifested, due 
honour might be paid by the church militant on earth, to him who 
was proved, by the testimony of God, to reign in glory in the church 
triumphant in the heavens. Our predecessor did what was requisite 
in a matter of so great importance, and, according to the custom of the 
Apostolic See, entrusted the business to three cardinals of the Holy 
Boman Church, who were empowered to send two venerable bishops, 
with commission to make the most exact researches in order to 
discover the truth. And having spent some months in this work, 
they returned to Borne, and gave a faithful account of what they 
found. But our predecessor being taken out of the world before that 
business was ended; and solicitations being made to us to have it 
resumed, we resolved to proceed with the utmost care and circum¬ 
spection. Therefore we appointed three cardinals of the Holy Boman 
Church, to send two venerable bishops a second time, to inquire into 
the truth, that so we might proceed with more security after this 
repeated search. Accordingly, they sent two bishops, who at their 
return, did not only confirm what had been discovered in the time 
of our predecessor, but also brought attestations of several evident 
miracles which had been wrought since that time. Nevertheless, 
we did not let this second inquiry suffice, but resolved to make a 
third; and therefore sent two other venerable bishops; who after 
some months returned with the most convincing proofs, that miracles 
were frequently wrought; and in particular, they brought an exact 
narrative of some of the most remarkable ones. After this we sent 
another bishop to Sienna, who having staid there some months, bore 
witness, at his return, to the truth and reality of the miracles. We 
sent the same venerable person also to Aquila, where the saint died, 
to inquire whether any miracles were wrought there. At his return 
he confirmed the attestations of others, who had been sent before to 
the same place, and moreover related the most stupendous works 
which had been done since the time of the inquiry made by those 
others: which stupendous works were done, not in comers and 
hidden places, but publicly, and in the sight of the whole multitude. 
Having received these informations, we caused every particular to 
be laid open in our consistory, where they were examined. But the 
matter being of great importance, the determination was put off till 


ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 


63 


another consistory should be held, that so each cardinal might, in 
the meantime, examine every article more maturely at home. In 
this sacred consistory, all the votes concurred in this, that the 
miracles were so many, and so very evident; and the sanctity of the 
saint’s life, aud the purity of his faith, so manifest, that there was 
reason sufficient to proceed to the canonization.” 

This decree was published in 1450, and, together with all the steps 
taken in the matter, within six years of the saint’s death; and in the 
country where the whole was transacted. 

Dr. Hay, after citing the foregoing and other examples, remarks : 
—“ Though no other diligence had been used for ascertaining the 
reality of miracles than what we have seen above, yet it must be 
owned that these were very sufficient to convince any reasonable 
person of the certainty of facts so examined and attested. Repeated 
examinations by different commissioners, who were men of known 
learning and probity, made at different times; of witnesses upon 
oath, concerning facts of their own nature, open, plain, and notori¬ 
ous, said to be performed in the presence of multitudes of people of 
all ranks and stations, and these examinations made at or soon after 
the time when the facts were said to have happened, and when num¬ 
bers of eye and ear witnesses were alive, and everything recent in their 
memories ; and the process and result of their examinations tried with 
the most mature deliberation, by a body of learned and indifferent 
persons; and, when approved by them, published to the world 
among those very people, and in those very places where the whole 
was transacted; and where it was impossible that any fraud advanced 
should escape detection. All these circumstances concurring, are 
doubtless such assured means of ascertaining the facts so examined, 
and attested, that it scarce appears possible anything more could be 
added for giving to the human mind the most assured conviction; 
and yet we find that the Church, from her ardent desire of rendering 
these matters absolutely incontestable, and of precluding every pos¬ 
sible cavil of her enemies, has, even in these later times, added more 
precautions, and in the process for the canonization of saints, uses 
still greater rigour and severity in the proofs she demands for ascer¬ 
taining the miracles said to be wrought by their means. The whole 
series of this process is described at large, by one who perfectly well 
knew it, the late Pope Benedict XIV., in his valuable and elaborate 
work on the Canonization of Saints, out of which I shall here give a 
clear and succinct account of what concerneth miracles; which, who- 


64 


HOMAN CATHOLIC MIHACLES. 


ever considers with due attention, I dare say, will readily acknow¬ 
ledge it to be impossible for the wit of man to use more effectual 
means for coming to the knowledge of the truth; and that if facts so 
examined and attested, could, this notwithstanding, be false or 
forged, we must bid an eternal adieu to all faith and credit among 
men.” 

This “ clear and succinct account” from the work of Pope Bene¬ 
dict XIV., with slight abridgment, I proceed to quote. 

“ When a servant of God dies in the odour of sanctity, it is per¬ 
mitted the faithful to have recourse in private to his intercession, 
and to ask benefits from Almighty God through the help of his 
prayers. If it please God to grant these prayers and even to work 
miracles at the invocation of his holy servant, others thereby are 
encouraged to seek his intercession in hope of receiving like bless¬ 
ings from God through his means. When this occurs, these things 
are allowed to go on without any judicial cognizance being taken of 
them for some time, so that if due to imagination, enthusiasm, or 
the transports of devotion, they may die away; or if there be any 
deceit, that there may be opportunity for its detection and exposure 
in the bud; but if the fame of supernatural events wrought at the 
saint’s intercession continues and gains greater credit, and thereupon 
the state, or any religious order, or any persons connected with the 
deceased, think proper to interest themselves to have his cause tried 
at the supreme tribunal, in order to his canonization, they must pro¬ 
ceed after this manner. 

“ Their first application must be to the diocesan bishop, who must 
take a judicial cognizance, in the first instance, of the public renown 
in the saint’s favour, both as to his holy life and miracles, and this 
first judgment is so indispensable, that the court of Borne will not 
admit any cause of this kind to a hearing till this first step be taken, 
and the acts of this judicial inquiry of the bishop be fully proved 
before them, with all the formalities prescribed to be observed by 
him in making it. These formalities, ten in number, are as follows : 
1. To avoid all precipitation the public renown of the sanctity and 
miracles of the deceased must have existed for some considerable 
time, before the bishop be allowed to begin his proceedings of in¬ 
quiring about them. 2. The bishop himself must preside, if pos¬ 
sible, at all the steps of the process ; and if, through necessity, he be 
obliged to substitute any of his inferior clergy in his place, this 
judge must have a doctor in divinity, and a licentiate in canon law 


ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 


65 


for his assistants. 3. He who takes the depositions of the witnesses, 
must countersign every article along with the witnesses themselves, 
who subscribe them. 4. Each deponent must be asked a circum¬ 
stantial relation of the facts he attests. It is not allowed to read 
over to the other witnesses what was deponed by the first, and cause 
it to be confirmed by their consent; but each one must be examined 
apart by himself, and their answers extended at full length to each 
interrogatory. 5. The notary, and the promoter of the cause, as 
well as the witnesses must all be put under oath to observe the 
most profound silence with regard to the questions put, or the 
answers given. 6. Information must be sent to the Pope of the 
whole procedure, and of the judgment of the bishop passed there¬ 
upon. 7. A clean copy of all the papers must be made out in 
proper form, and then authenticated and well sealed, must be sent 
to the Congregation of Rites at Rome. 8. All the originals are pre¬ 
served in the archives of the cathedral church of the diocese, in a 
proper chest, well sealed, and under different keys, which are de¬ 
posited with different persons of rank and character. 9. Besides 
the witnesses presented to the bishop by those who solicit the cause, 
he must also examine as many others as he can get account of who 
are capable of giving any information On the cause. 10. Ho extra¬ 
judicial acts or attestations are allowed to be inserted among the 
authentic writings of the process. 

“ When, after this examination, the bishop has passed his sentence, 
and an authentic copy of the whole process has been sent to Rome, 
it must remain deposited with the notary of the Congregation of 
Rites ten years before the seals can be opened or any further step 
taken. During this time, however, the writings of the saint, (if he 
have left any) are minutely examined, and it is carefully observed 
whether, during this period, the renown of the virtues and miracles 
of the saint continues and increases, or declines, and also, whether 
any serious accusations, suspicions, or doubts of his conduct appear 
against him. But if all these particulars are favourable, the cause is 
then resumed, in the Congregation of Rites. This tribunal consists 
of a number of cardinals, who are the chief judges, and of judges of 
the second order, who are called Consultors. The court has several 
officers, the principal one is called the Promoter of the Faith, or 
Solicitor-General. His function is to represent the public as against 
the cause under trial, and to raise every objection and difficulty in 
his power. All the officers of the court are under solemn oath of 

E 


66 


ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 


secresy as to the matters brought before them, in the cause while 
it is depending. The first step taken by this court is to open and 
examine the proceedings of the bishop, to see that there has been no 
irregularity therein. Every step that follows is taken by authority of 
the Sovereign Pontiff. He authorizes three commissioners, named 
by the*court, to go to the place where the miracles are said to have 
occurred, and collect information on the spot. Then the solicitors for 
the cause draw up in writing the articles to be examined by the com¬ 
missioners, classifying the several facts and miracles to be proved. 
This, and all previous documents in the cause, are given m to be 
revised by the Promoter of the Faith, who leisurely draws up all 
the difficulties and objections his ingenuity can devise. These 
papers are all carefully kept under seal, till the court and witnesses 
are convened, either in some church, or sacred place. The de¬ 
ponents are sworn upon the holy gospels that they will declare the 
whole truth they know, without concealing or disguising any part of 
it, and that they will not communicate to any one either the questions 
put to them or the answers they give. They are first examined as 
to their quality, age, faitb, learning, &c., and then as to the several 
articles proposed by the solicitors of the cause, and on any other 
subject which the judges think proper. At the end of every session 
the papers are all sealed and locked up till the next meeting, and 
when the whole information is taken, all the papers are authenticated 
bv the names and seals of the judges and principal officers of the 
court, the originals are deposited in the archives of the diocese, and 
fair copies of the whole collected in presence of the judges, and 
authenticated by all their seals and subscriptions are sent direct 
to Rome. 

“ From this summary it will be seen that in this court these causes 
are tried with the same rigour with which criminal causes are tried 
in civil courts, and the facts are required to be proved with an equal 
exactitude. Suspected, contradictory, second hand, or inconclusive 
testimonies are set aside. There must be concurring witnesses to 
every fact and circumstance. The witnesses must be of sufficient 
age, and have knowledge and discernment to distinguish the nature 
of the things they relate, they must be of known probity, and must 
give an account of the very motives for the testimony they give. 
They are subject to a searching cross-examination, and all objections 
to the witnesses and their evidence must be met to the satisfaction 
of the judges. 


ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 67 

“ When the acts and proceedings of the commissioners are sent to ‘ 
Borne, they are strictly examined by the Congregation of Bites, both 
as to their authenticity and validity. If satisfied, the Congregation 
proceeds to re-examine the whole cause; but fifty years from the 
death of the saint must elapse before this step can be taken. This 
delay is ordered for the reasons before mentioned, that nothing may be 
done with precipitation, and to see if during this time any new light 
may appear, either for or against the cause. When, after this 
period, the cause is resumed, and all the judicial apts and proceed¬ 
ings of the court have been verified and approved, some of the 
principal articles of that process are selected to be tried and exam¬ 
ined with the utmost rigour by the Congregation itself, in three 
extraordinary assemblies, held at proper intervals for that purpose. 
The question to be determined concerning miracles is, ‘Whether 
or not a competent number of true miracles has been sufficiently 
proved in the process made by the commissioners P* And notwith¬ 
standing all the precautions used before, it may be said with truth 
that these were only the preliminary investigations to the full and 
exhaustive trial of the reality of the miracles now made. For 
greater distinction the question is divided into two parts, each of 
which is considered separately. The first is, “ Whether the actual 
existence of the miraculous facts produced in the process, have been 
thoroughly proved before the commissioners P And the second, 

* Whether these facts be really supernatural and true miracles, the 
work of God and of good angels ?’ The discussion of the first point 
brings the whole process—the proceeding of the commissioners— 
the witnesses, their qualifications, their depositions, and all the 
circumstances under review. The Promoter of the Faith pleads 
every difficulty, and if the solicitors for the cause fail in solving 
these to the satisfaction of the judges, the miracle after all, is re¬ 
jected, as not proved. If the evidence of the facts be indubitable, 
then the court proceeds to the second question. Here, it distin¬ 
guishes three classes of miracles, those which show themselves at 
once to be the direct work of the Creator, such as raising the dead 
to life; those which are plainly above human power, but in which 
it is to be ascertained whether they are the operation of good 
angels, or of evil spirits. Various criteria are laid down to deter¬ 
mine this point, as, the reality, the duration, and the utility of the 
effect, the means used, and the principal object. Others again are 
in substance natural events which may be produced by the assistance 

p 2 


68 


HOMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 


of art, but from tbe concurrence of circumstances, and the manner 
in which they are performed, become truly miraculous. Miracles of 
this last order, such as the miraculous cure of disease, are examined 
with special strictness. It must be proved to the conviction of the 
judges that they are attended with all those circumstances which 
manifest divine operation, that the disease be considerable, danger¬ 
ous, inveterate, such as commonly resists the strength of known 
medicines, or, at least, that it be long and difficult by their means 
to produce a perfect cure; that the disease be not come to its last 
period, in which it is natural to look for a remission of its symptoms 
and a cure; that the ordinary helps of natural remedies have not 
been used, or, at least, that there be just reason from the time elapsed 
since taking them, and other circumstances, to believe that they 
could have no influence in the cure; that the cure be sudden and 
momentary, that the violent pains or imminent danger cease all at 
once, instead of diminishing gradually, as happens in the oper¬ 
ations of nature; that the cure be perfect and entire; that there hap¬ 
pened no crisis, nor any sensible alteration which might have 
naturally wrought the cure; that the health recovered be constant 
and not followed by a speedy relapse. The concurrence of all these 
conditions and circumstances must be fully established before the 
miraculousness of these facts can be approved by the court. The 
Promoter of the Faith is allowed to call in divines, physicians, 
natural philosophers, mathematicians, and any who may be skilled 
in the respective matters belonging to the miracle under examination. 
If they can give any rational and natural account how the effect 
might be produced without having recourse to miracle, which the 
opposite party cannot gainsay, or if they can put any well founded 
objection against the miraculousness of the fact which the others 
cannot solve, the miracle is forthwith rejected. It is, however, 
true, in order that all justice may be done, that the solicitors for the 
cause are also allowed to call in persons learned in the several 
sciences to their assistance, to answer the difficulties proposed by 
the Promoter of the Faith, and obviate his objections, if it be possible 
to do so.” 

Such is the procedure of the court of Rome, in ascertaining the 
reality of miracles alleged to be wrought in these later ages. Con¬ 
sidering the nature of this ordeal, we need not wonder at the pro¬ 
verb in Catholic countries, that the greatest of all miracles is to get 
a miracle admitted at Rome. The learned divine whom I have 


ROMAN CATHOLIC MIRACLES. 


69 


followed, asks the most determined enemy of miracles to consider, 
and say “ If they think it possible for the most ingenious wit to 
invent more assured means for unmasking imposture, and preventing 
error, than what is used by this tribunal ?” It was the strength and 
weight of testimony in favour of these miracles, which led Dr. 
Middleton to deny the reality of all miracles since the Apostolic age; 
and which made David Hume recommend his readers to form a 
‘resolution “ Never to lend any attention to the testimony” (in favour 
of miracles,) “ with whatever specious pretext it may be covered 
assigning as his reason, that “ Those who are so silly as to examine 
the affair by that medium, and seek particular flaws in the testi¬ 
mony, are almost sure to be confounded.” We may be sure that if 
one so keen-witted as David Hume felt himself compelled to admit 
the hopelessness of seeking particular flaws in the testimony, others 
may well despair of such a quest. 

During the last two centuries, the savans in Protestant Christen¬ 
dom, have made a dead set at all facts of the supernatural kind; but 
those in the Roman Church are specially discredited. Partly, this is 
due to the general practice of confounding those established by 
judicial process, with the mass of unaccredited and pseudo miracles; 
but chiefly, I think, to the fear that the admission of any of its 
miracles as genuine, in some way involves also the recognition of its 
authority and doctrines. But are we shut up to this alternative of 
denying all supernatural occurrences in that church, however well 
attested, or of conceding all its claims and dogmas P I think not. 
Because, on the invocation of a saint, a cripple miraculously recovers 
the use of his limbs, or a blind man his sight, does that prove the 
infallibility of the church to which they belong P Because, in the 
fervour of her orisons, a saint is raised in the air, or at other times, 
is privileged with visions and revelations, is that any evidence of 
Transubstantiation P The manifestation of power, and the revelation 
of truth, are totally distinct. Beyond that which is involved in the 
fact itself, a miracle is no more evidence of the truth of any particular 
theological or other doctrine, than of a problem in Euclid. Catholic 
writers admit Mormon and heathen miracles; they attribute them, 
however, to a source not divine, but diabolical. The Heathen philo¬ 
sophers acknowledged the miracles of the early Christian Church, but 
ascribed them to art-magic; and the Jews fathered them on Beelze¬ 
bub. All agree that so far from miracles proving doctrine, the 
doctrine is itself the test of the quality of the miracle. Believing 


70 


JOAN OP ARC. 


that all churches hold some truth, and none have a monopoly of it; 
and that their common points of agreement are of infinitely higher 
consequence than their points of divergence, I endeavour to find the 
facts and truths in all churches, without assailing any. It seems to 
me that this question of the supernatural should be examined from 
a higher point of view than the sectarian one; and that it can be no 
unworthy effort, and can surely involve no sacrifice of principle on 
the part of any, to investigate the laws and conditions which deter¬ 
mine and regulate its development and manifestations. 


CHAPTER IX. 

JOAN OP ARC. 

Spiritualism in many ways blends with both ecclesiastical and 
secular history. Through individuals under spirit-influence, it has, 
sometimes in a very marked degree, shaped and guided the destinies 
of Church and State. Thus, Constantine, who established Chris¬ 
tianity as the religion of the Roman world, was converted to the 
Christian faith by becoming the subject of spiritual vision. As he 
was marching at noonday at the head of his army, he beheld a 
luminous cross suspended in the air, and inscribed with the words, 
“ By this conquer.” During the ensuing night, the form of Christ 
himself presented itself with the same cross, and directed him to 
frame a standard after that shape. Of course, modem writers essay 
to throw doubt and contempt upon this narrative: Gibbon’s lip curls 
with its usual sneer, and enlightened Protestant orthodoxy salutes 
him with a loving kiss. Spite of all railing, and of all fanciful con¬ 
jecture to explain away the literal truth of the narrative, it still 
remains recorded by Eusebius, the eminent Church Historian, and 
contemporary of Constantine; who avers that Constantine related it to 
himself, and attested its truth by a solemn oath. “ And it is cer¬ 
tain,” says the sceptical W addington, in his History of the Church , 
“ that about that period, and possibly on that occasion, a standard 
was so framed, and continued to excite the enthusiasm of the Chris¬ 
tian soldiers.” 

Passing, however, to a later instance, and from a Roman Emperor 
to a village girl: let me briefly sketch the history of a rustic maiden. 



JOAN OF ARC. 


71 


who under spiritual guidance, became the deliverer of her country- 
in the hour of its greatest peril. The story of Jeanne d’Arc (or as 
we call her, Joan of Arc,) has been often told, but it never fails to 
interest. A recapitulation of its leading incidents may serve to 
Confirm our spiritual faith, and give us broader and deeper views of 
the mission which spirits, under Providence, may at times have to 
fulfil in relation not only to the destiny of individuals, but of 
nations. 

France had fallen upon evil days ; torn by internal feuds, ravaged 
by a successful invader, and its bravest troops in league with the 
foreigner, its nationality was all but annihilated. The enemy had 
marched on from victory to victory, town after town had surrendered, 
one stronghold after another had been captured;—while its king, 
imbecile, frivolous, immersed in pleasure, was contemplating his 
personal safety in flight, rather than the honour of his crown, or the 
independance of his kingdom. 

At the time our story opens, Orleans was the only town of note 
which still held out in the king’s favour. His last hopes hung upon 
its fate; it resisted gallantly; but the siege was now converted into 
a blockade; its defenders were daily becoming fewer, and provisions 
scarcer; and as tower after tower rose around it, hope of succour 
from without became fainter. And when a last effort to relieve it 
had failed, the hearts of its few surviving defenders sunk within 
them: they offered to remain neutral during the war, and to place 
their city as a deposit in the hands of Burgundy. “ I will not beat 
the bush for others to capture the bird,” was the contemptuous reply 
of the Regent. They were told that nothing short of unconditional 
surrender would be accepted. 

It was then, when the lion had trampled down the lilies—when 
France, beaten and hopeless, lay at the feet of the conqueror, that 
spiritual powers, through the agency of a humble unlettered country- 
girl, turned the tide of fortune, rescued the apparently doomed city, 
and delivered her country out of the hands of its enemies. 

The noble hall of the Castle of Chinon was illuminated with the 
light of fifty torches, and crowded with knights and nobles, when 
the first interview between Charles the Dauphin and Joan took place : 
that he might the better test her claims, the king had disguised 
himself, mingling without ceremony among his courtiers, of whom 
we are told about three hundred were present, while some of them, 
Bplendidly attired, took the upper places. Undisturbed by the 


72 


JOAN OF ARC. 


splendour of the scene and the gaze of the spectators, Joan, without 
hesitation, singled out the king, and advanced towards him with 
firm step; then, bending her knee before him, exclaimed, “ God give 
you good life, gentle king!” Charles, descending to falsehood, 
replied, “ I am not the king, he is there,” pointing to one of his 
nobles. “ In the name of God, you are he, and no other,” returned 
Joan. She then continued, “Oh most noble dauphin, I am Joan, 
the maid sent by God to aid you and your kingdom against the 
English. And I am commanded to announce to you, that you shall 
be crowned in the city of Rheims. Gentle Dauphin, why will you 
not believe me P I tell you that God has pity upon you and upon 
your people, and that St. Louis and St. Charlemagne are interceding 
for you now before him.” Charles then drew her aside and conversed 
with her, when, among other things, she disclosed to him a secret 
which he was certain was known to himself alone. He declared 
himself satisfied of the truth of her pretensions* 

Before this interview was permitted, Joan had been subjected to 
an examination as to her religious orthodoxy; she now again had to 
pass through the ordeal of a tedious theological examination, 
ere learned doctors could assure themselves, and certify to the king 
that she was not in league with the devil. A commission was also 
appointed to obtain the fullest particulars of her previous life. To 
their report we are chiefly indebted for the facts known of the early 
life of Joan. As the result of their inquiries, it appeared that Joan 
was the child of poor parents, who lived in an humble cottage, in an 
obscure village, near the borders of Lorraine. She had neither 
learned to read nor write, but her mother had taught her to spin and 
sew. She bore an unblemished character, had a strict regard for 
truth, was thoughtful, deeply religious, free from many of the 
superstitions of her time and neighbourhood, and had been often 
laughed at by her young companions for preferring to attend church, 
to joining in the village dance. She assisted her parents in house- 

* It is said that in the Royal Library of Paris this secret has been at length discovered. Joan, 
it seems, reminded the king of a prayer which he made one morning during his distress, and 
which she repeated to him. Mr. Sharon Tubnee, who, in his History of England, labours 
hard to rid the narrative of its spiritual element, (Hamlet with the Ghost left out), suspects “ that 
some one very near the king and acquainted with his secret thoughts was now secretly assisting 
the maid.” But this suspicion is quite^ gratuitous, alike destitute of evidence and probability: 
“ the wish is father to the thought.” f It is in this manner that the facts of spiritualism are 
generally treated. If they cannot be disproved, or explained away, they are assailed with 
hypothesis—conjecture—suspicion; anything will do. Give a dog an ill name and it is always 
easy to find a stone to fling at him. 


JOAN OF AEC. 


73 


hold duties, and among her active out-door employments, was ac¬ 
customed to tending cattle; and she had learned to mount and ride 
on horseback with little or no accoutrements, which may account for 
the equestrian skill and fearless riding she afterwards displayed. 
The priests to whom she was in the habit of confessing, declared that 
they had never witnessed a female more pure of soul, more humble 
in spirit, or more resigned to the will of the Almighty. Sir James 
Mackintosh says:—“She was beautiful, innocent, pious, modest, 
laborious from her childhood, devoted to the severest observances, 
and to the most mysterious meditations of religion, such as are 
cherished by a young female full of sensibility, amidst the lonely 
occupation of a district of mountains and forests.” 

Her first experience of spiritual intercourse, appears to have been 
chiefly intended to prepare her for future communications, and for 
her subsequent mission. It is thus artlessly related by herself:— 
“ At the age of thirteen I heard a voice from God, to assist me to 
govern myself. It came at noon, at summer, in my father’s garden. 
I had not fasted the day before. I heard it on my right, towards the 
church. I was greatly frightened. I rarely hear it without seeing a 
great brilliancy on the side it comes from. I thought it came from 
Heaven. When I heard it three times, I knew it was the voice of an 
Angel. It has always kindly guarded me, and I understand very 
well what it announces. Though I were in a wood, I still heard it; 
and usually at noon. When I came into France I often heard it.”* 
The voice exhorted her to continue pious and good, and God would 
help her. 

Soon after this, while tending flocks in the field, she again heard 
the same voice, which announced itself as that of the archangel 
Michael. The voice now announced to her, that her country was to 
be delivered from the English yoke, and by her means. Joan, in 
token of submission to what she regarded as the will of Heaven, and 
in gratitude to the Most High, who had chosen her as his instru¬ 
ment, took a vow to remain unmarried, and to devote herself entirely 
to her mission. And to this vow she religiously adhered; repelling 
offers that would have given her rank and wealth, saying that she 
was a maid consecrated to the service of God and of her country. 
She, with quaint simplicity, described the archangel Michael, as 
appearing “ in the form of a true and comely gentleman.” She also 

* Domremy, her native place, being on the borders of the Burgundian territory, would, in her 
time, be distinguished from France proper. 


74 


JOAN OF ARC. 


beheld the majestic forms of St. Margaret and St. Catherine, who 
showed themselves to her, crowned with rich and beautiful diadems. 
She touched and embraced them, and kissed the turf where she 
beheld them. From this time they frequently thus appeared to her, 
and directed her movements. 

Being now instructed in her mission, she proceeded to make it 
known. Her parents, as might be expected, at first thought but 
lightly of these rhapsodies, as they would doubtless consider them. 
She succeeded, however, in convincing her uncle, whom she visited 
for that purpose, of the reality of these revelations. So impressed, 
indeed, was he of the truth of her mission, that he decided on going 
to Baudricourt, the governor of the neighbouring town of Yancoleurs, 
as her messenger, and revealing her visions to him, entreat his 
assistance to enable her to reach the king’s presence. 

The interview with Baudricourt was obtained, but he treated her 
declarations with the utmost ridicule, advising her uncle to box her 
ears, and send her back to her parents. Joan was not disheartened 
by this failure; she resolved to go to Baudricourt herself; to go to 
him alone if need be. Her uncle, however, accompanied her. It 
was with great difficulty that she could obtain admission to the 
governor; still more difficult to win from him a patient hearing; but 
believing that she was labouring to execute a Divine commission, she 
persisted, despite of all derision and contempt. Frequent and fervent 
were her prayers to Heaven, and the strength that she needed was 
not withheld from her. She continued her passionate appeals and 
entreaties to the governor, declaring that she must and would see 
the king, even if in doing so she “ wore through her feet to her 
knees.” At last, Baudricourt consented to write to the king, and 
refer the question of her journey to his decision. 

Meanwhile, her piety, earnestness, and evident sincerity had 
made a great impression on the townspeople. Her fame had reached 
the Duke of Lorraine, who sent for her, considering that if she were 
indeed endowed with supernatural powers, she could cure him of a 
disease under which he was suffering; but Joan replied with truthful 
simplicity, that her mission was not to that prince, nor had she such 
a gift. 

Her uncle and other friends of Joan, now raised the funds neces¬ 
sary to defray the expenses of her journey to the king; and some 
gentlemen of distinction promised to accompany her, and to pro¬ 
vide her a small escort. Baudricourt gave her the required letters to 


JOAN OP ARC. “ 75 

the king, and exacted an oath from her escort that they would take 
all possible means to conduct her safely to the court. 

To lessen the perils of travelling through a hostile country, they 
proceeded by unfrequented bye-paths; sometimes traversing forests 
and fording rivers ; but the maid seemed indifferent to toil or danger; 
till arrived on friendly ground, she openly proclaimed her mission ; 
announcing to all whom she met, that she was sent by Divine com¬ 
mand to relieve the city of Orleans, and to crown the king. At 
length she reached the neighbourhood of Chinon, where the king 
was staying, and surmounting all impediments, obtained that inter¬ 
view with him I have already described. 

Charles had just made a last effort to relieve Orleans; but so 
thoroughly dispirited were the French troops, that they were com¬ 
pletely routed by a far inferior force. And now he was half per¬ 
suaded to leave Orleans to its fate, and seek refuge in the mountain 
recesses of Languedoc. 

After two months spent in close investigation of the character 
and abilities of Joan, her spotless purity being satisfactorily esta¬ 
blished by several matrons of high rank, and her orthodoxy affirm¬ 
ed by a synod of theologians, it was at length determined 
to despatch her with relief to Orleans. By direction of the 
spirit-voices, she assumed male attire, and a white banner 
was made for her, strewn with the Jieurs-de-lys of France, 
and bearing the figure of Christ in his glory, with the in¬ 
scription “ Jhesus Maria and a sword, which she had been told to 
wear, was found as she described it, marked with five crosses, lying 
with other arms in the church-vault of Saint Catherine, at Fierbois, 
and at the precise spot which she had mentioned : it is said to have 
belonged to the redoubtable Charlemagne. The enthusiasm in her 
favour had by this time become so great, that the army was now 
placed under her control. One of her first steps was to reform the 
morals of the camp, by expelling all bad characters from it; and by 
calling upon the soldiers to prepare for battle by confession and 
prayer. She proceeded on the march to Orleans with unfaltering 
determination, giving such proofs of wisdom, and surmounting such 
great dangers, as confirmed the belief in her being under Divine 
illumination and protection. The troops now, despite of the circum- 
vallation, penetrated to Orleans, and Joan, with a cpnvoy of 
provisions, passed up the Loire, and the besiegers abandoning a 
redoubt at her approach, she entered the city without resistance, 


JOAN OP ARC. 


76 


amid the enthusiastic shouts of the inhabitants. Notwithstanding 
her fatigue, and that it was nearly midnight, Joan proceeded im¬ 
mediately to the Cathedral, where Te Deum was chanted by torch¬ 
light. According to her usual practice, she selected her dwelling 
at the house of one of the most esteemed ladies of the city. 

Animated by her presence, and believing themselves to be under 
celestial guardianship, the courage of the defenders revived. At the 
head of her troops, clad in armour, Joan attacked and defeated the 
English in repeated sallies; and so successful were the French 
soldiers under her guidance, or rather, under the guidance of the 
spirits who directed her, that in eight days from her entrance into 
the city, the English, who had besieged it for eight months, were, 
after many fierce and desperate fights, compelled to raise the siege. 
The imminent danger which had menaced it and the French king¬ 
dom had passed away. Need we attempt to describe the feeling of 
the inhabitants—how acclamations rent the air—how bonfires blazed 


in the public streets, and joy-bells pealed from every church; how 
the people, of all ranks and ages, flocked to the Cathedral to offer 
up thanks to Heaven—the solemn Te Deum mingling with the joyful 
sobs and tears of the worshippers. Need we say that when Joan, as 
she had predicted, returned victorious from the last terrible but 
decisive conflict before the city, that it was indeed a triumphal 
entry, and that though renowned generals and great men attended 
her, the holy maid was the centre of all eyes and hearts ? Let it 
suffice to mention, that the city bestowed upon her the title— Maid 
op Orleans —by which she is still chiefly known in France, and that 
in grateful remembrance of their deliverance, the anniversary of the 
day, (the eighth of May,) was set apart by the citizens for devotional 
exercises. It is still held sacred as a holiday in Orleans. The old 
chronicler Hall, says“ After the siege was broken up, to tell you 
what triumphs wer made in the citee of Orleance, what wood was 
brent in fiers, what wyne was dronke in houses, what songes wer 
song in the strets, what melody was made in the tavernes, what 
rondes wer danced in large and brode places, what lightes wer set up 
in the churches, what anthemes wer song in the chapelles, and what 
joy was showed in every place, it wer a long work.” 

But Joan felt that her mission was yet but half accomplished; and, 
with a view to its completion, the day after the raising of the siege, 
neither elated with her triumphs, nor wearied with her toils, she 
commenced preparations for her departure. After she had left the 


JOAN OF ABC. 


77 


city, the French chiefs attacked a place named Jargeau, but without 
success till Joan came to their assistance, when they obtained a 
decisive victory, and the Earl of Suffolk, who defended the place, 
was taken prisoner. In a few days after, the English army, in its 
retreat, was overtaken and defeated with great slaughter, and many 
of its bravest chiefs perished. Joan displayed in this, as in former 
actions, the greatest bravery; she exerted herself in staying the 
carnage, tending the wounded, and administering religious conso¬ 
lation to the dying. Shortly after, Charles, followed by his army 
and a vast retinue, made his triumphal entry into Kheims, the Maid 
riding by his side. And there, in the old cathedral of N otre Dame, 
and in presence of the Noblesse—Counts of the Empire and Princes 
of the blood—the coronation was performed by the Archbishop. 
Dunois, the greatest general of his age, standing on one side of the 
king, and the holy Maid, with the consecrated banner unfurled, on 
the other. 

Immediately the solemn rites were concluded, the Maid threw 
herself on her knees before the crowned monarch, her eyes streaming 
with tears, and her whole deportment testifying the deepest emo¬ 
tion, exclaiming, “ Gentle king, now is fulfilled the pleasure of 
God, who willed that I should raise the siege of Orleans, and conduct 
you to receive here the anointing oil, showing you to be the king to 
whom belongs the kingdom.” 

Joan was now at the summit of her glory, but she still retained 
the simple modesty of character which had always distinguished 
her. When some one said to her. “ Not in any book are such great 
things related as those you have doneshe answered, “ The Lord 
has a book in which not every scholar can read, however learned he 
may be; lam only God’s minister.” The Maid felt however that 
she had now done the work that was given her to do. She had 
raised the fallen fortunes of her king and country, and carried on 
the war so far to a prosperous issue. Orleans was relieved. Charles 
was crowned. This was all that had been appointed to her. She 
protested this before the king, and on her knees besought him, it 
is said with tears, that she might be permitted to return to the 
home of her childhood and her former occupations. But she urged 
and entreated in vain. She was told that her presence with the 
army was still necessary—that the invader was not yet driven from 
the land; till overcome by their solicitations and appeals she yielded 
a reluctant, sorrowful assent to their wishes. Alas for the ill-starred 


78 


JOAN OF AEC. 


Maid! and yet not so; for the fiery crown of martyrdom she was 
destined to wear raises her far above the region of mortal pity. But 
henceforth her story is a fearful tragedy, an ineffaceable stain on the 
annals of both France and England. 

Joan still led the troops, still exhibited the same fortitude and 
courage she had always shown, but she had ceased to be invincible. 
No longer upheld by spiritual power and guided by celestial wisdom 
as heretofore, she became weak as others. Her counsels ceased to 
exhibit their former wisdom and firmness. She no longer seemed 
assured that she was acting under the special guidance of Heaven ; 
nor did she now oppose her own judgment to that of the French 
chiefs, but was “ perpetually changing her resolutions, sometimes, 
eager for the conflict at other times, not.” Notwithstanding her 
'prestige, and the superiority of the French forces, she now sometimes 
suffered reverses; and disheartened, she once more requested her 
dismissal; and even went so far as to suspend her armour above 
the tomb of St. Denis, and consecrate it to God; but she was again 
prevailed on to remain with the army. It is not necessary to follow 
the details of the war and the fluctuations of fortune; suffice it to 
say that in an attack upon the English, Joan was finally (not with¬ 
out suspicion of treachery) taken prisoner, an event, for which she 
was not wholly unprepared; as “ the voices” had announced to her, 
that she would fall into the power of her enemies—that it could not 
be avoided—that she must not be affrighted, but accept her cross 
with gratitude; and that God would support her strength and 
courage. 

At first, she was treated with some respect as a prisoner of war, 
but was soon subjected to every species of insult and contumely. So 
great was the rage of her enemies against her, that they actually 
burnt a poor woman at Paris, for affirming that she believed that 
Joan was a good Christian who was sent by God. At length for a 
sum of ten thousand francs, she was handed over to the Bishop of 
Beauvais, by whom she was brought before a theological tribunal 
on an accusation, involving, among other charges, sorcery, heresy, 
and imposture. This course being adopted by her enemies as best 
calculated not only to glut their revenge, but also to damage and 
disgrace her character, and that of the cause she had cham¬ 
pioned. A messenger had been despatched to Domremy, to gain 
some particulars of her early life, but as these were highly favourable 
to her, they were carefully suppressed. She was led to trial, 


JOAN OP ARC. 


79 


heavily loaded with chains. The Bishop and the Vicar General of 
the Inquisition, supported by nearly a hundred clerical and lay 
assessors, appeared against her. But though power, station, talent, 
subtlety, and learning, were arrayed against an uneducated and 
unfriended girl, who was not even permitted an advocate or defender, 
her self-possession, and the courage derived from conscious inno¬ 
cence—possibly too from higher aid, upheld her. The records of 
this odious mock-trial and of the fifteen examinations to which the 
maiden was subjected, are still preserved; they occupy more than 
two hundred folio pages in double columns. The simple good-sense 
of the maiden’s answers contrast strongly with the subtle insidious 
questions that were put to her. Thus when asked—“ Do you know 
yourself to be in God’s grace P” “ To answer such a question is a 
great matter,” was her meek reply. “ Yes,” said a doctor who was 
present, “ it is so great a matter that the prisoner is not even bound 
by law to answer it.” The Bishop furious at this merciful inter¬ 
vention, sternly repeated the question; and an answer, not we 
think to be exceeded in its piety, humility, and sound comprehension, 
was given :—“ If I am not in the grace of God, I pray God to admit 
me to it; if I am, I pray God that I may be kept in it.” Speaking 
of the angel Michael, she said to her judges, “ I saw him as plainly 
as I see you now.” When, anticipating the sneer of modern sceptics, 
and in ridicule of her visions, they asked her about the clothing of 
the spirits, she reproved their insinuations by asking in return, if 
it were possible to conceive that a God who was served by minister¬ 
ing angels could not also clothe them. When asked if the spirits 
who appeared to her hated the English, she replied, “They love 
whatever God loves, and hate whatever he hates.” And when the 
crafty Bishop, still trying to entrap her, continued, “ Does God then 
hate the English P” she replied, “ Whether God loves or hates the 
English I do not know, but I know that all who do not die in battle 
shall be driven away from this realm by the King of France.” Being 
asked why she carried a banner; she said, “ I carried it instead of 
a lance to avoid slaying any one. I have never killed a foe.” In 
reply to further questioning about it, she said, “ The voices told me 
to take it without fear, and that God would help me.” And when 
asked if her hope of victory was founded on the banner, or herself; 
she answered, “It was founded on God, and on naught besides:” 
and to an enquiry why she had stood bearing the banner near the 
altar at the coronation; she explained that as she had shared the 


JOAN OF ARC. 


80 

danger, she thought she deserved to partake the honour also. 
With regard to her assuming male attire, she replied, that she had 
worn it in obedience to the command of God. 

She protested against the injustice of being tried by her personal 
enemies, appealing for trial to the Council of Basil, or the Pope, 
She appealed in vain; and- the several interrogatories addressed to 
her, with her replies, were submitted to the decision of the Sor- 
bonne; which decreed, that her revelations proceeded from spirits 
evil and diabolical; that her visions were improbable, lying, and 
presumptuous; and that in wearing male attire, she had transgressed 
the divine law and canonical ordinances. She was recommended 
to submit herself unconditionally to the church, as persistance, the 
Bishop assured her, would expose her body to destruction, and her 
soul to eternal damnation. A sermon full of invective was then 
preached against her; and at its close, Joan was required to sign 
a form of recantation, admitting that her pretended interviews with 
angels and saints were delusive; then pointing to the public exe¬ 
cutioner, the Bishop told her that death was the only alternative. 
At first she was unshaken, and replied, with a lofty spirit, to these 
menaces; but when, with professions of sympathy for her, her 
enemies had recourse to entreaties, and when the maid (who we must 
bear in mind was a pious catholic) saw opposed to her the whole 
ecclesiastical body, whose decisions she had been trained to reverence 
as infallible; we need not wonder that moved by entreaties, and 
overborne by the weight of authority more even than the fear of 
death, she at length, in a moment of weakness, signed the form of 
abjuration thus imposed upon her. But the malice and duplicity of 
her enemies was yet farther shown. Instead of the paper which she 
had thus been induced to subscribe, another was substituted and 
read to the people in which she was made to own the falsehood of 
all her protestations. Sentence was then passed against her, con¬ 
demning her to pass the rest of her life in prison; in which “ she 
might weep for her sins, while eating the bread of grief, and drinking 
the water of affliction.” 

Her persecutors did not intend however to let her escape with 
life; the Earl of Warwick declared that his master “ had bougtt her 
so dearly, that she must be burnt.” And the Earl and Bishop to¬ 
gether were not long planning a pretext for her destruction. She 
was forced by their artifices to resume her former warlike apparel, 
after remonstrating against it for hours without avail. This, accord- 


JOAN OF ARC. 


81 


ing to ecclesiastical law, was the relapse into heresy, punishable 
with death. Joan’s enemies would not listen to her explanations. 
It is said, she spoke now with even more dignity and determination 
than on her trial; reproaching herself for having signed the abju¬ 
ration, and declaring, that except in conforming to the dress of her 
sex, she would in no wise yield to her j udges. She was condemned 
to be burnt, the same day, in the market-place of Bouen. 

On her way to the place of execution, her prayers were so devout, 
and she recommended her soul to the Almighty, in such touching 
accents, that many of the spectators were moved to tears. Arrived 
at the place of execution (where a statue is now erected to her 
memory) she found the wood ready piled, and the Cardinal of 
Winchester, the Bishop of Beauvais, and other church dignitaries 
awaiting their victim. The Bishop, with cruel insolence, demanded 
“ If she was not now well convinced that she had been deceived by 
wicked spirits?” To which she calmly answered, “I know not 
whether they were good or evil spirits, but I know that I saw them.” 
She listened to the mockery of a sermon that was preached, and 
then knelt down in fervent prayer, commending herself to God and 
to the saints; naming especially, her protectresses St. Catherine 
and St. Margaret, and then, asking pardon for all her offences, she 
declared that she forgave all those who had injured her; and amid 
the tears and sobs of many who had come to revile her, entreated 
the prayers of the spectators. She requested that the crucifix 
might be held up before her, so that her last look might rest on the 
sign of her Bedeemer. The name “Jesus” was the last word 
audible from her lips. Thus at the age of nineteen, on wreaths of 
soaring flame, the spirit of the martyr-maid was upborne to 
Heaven. 

But the maid had kindled another fire, a fire which burned in the 
hearts of the French nation, and which the power and malice of her 
enemies could not extinguish. Within three years from the death 
of Joan, of all the English conquests in France, Calais and its petty 
dependancies alone remained to them. In less than a quarter of a 
century, an Ecclesiastical court, headed by the Archbishop of 
Bheims, revised her case and pronounced her entirely innocent of 
all the allegations brought against her. Even the Bishop of Beau¬ 
vais, who presided over the infamous tribunal which condemned her, 
was seized with remorse, and founded the Lady Chapel in the Church 

G 


82 


JOAN OF ARC. 


of St. Pierre, at Lisieux, in expiation of “ his false judgment of an 
innocent woman,” as he expressly states in the deed of endowment. 
It is, however, a bitter regret that the genius of a Shakespeare and 
a Yoltaire, should have perpetuated the calumnies of her persecutors. 
On the other hand, Schiller with genuine poetic insight into charac¬ 
ter, anticipated in his tragedy, The Maid of Orleans , that tardy but 
sure justice which the final verdict of history has at length fully 
establish ed 

And now, with the facts of Joan’s life before us, how are we to 
understand them? How, except on the principles of spiritualism, 
can we read their full significance, and explain their mystery ? Am¬ 
bition, pride, revenge, love of power and notoriety, meanness, 
cupidity—qualities which mark the impostor: in the life of Joan, 
we search for them in vain. When Charles would have heaped 
favours on her, she declined all honours and presents for herself, 
beseeching only, that henceforth her native village might be free 
from any kind of impost; a boon by which she was fondly remem¬ 
bered for nearly four centuries; until, indeed, like many another 
touching memorial, it was swept away in 1789 by the storm of 
Revolution. Against the name of Domremy, in the list of the 
registrar of taxes, was always written “ Neant a cause de la Pucelle.” 
(Nothing—because of the maid.) We presume no respectable his¬ 
torian would now brand the maid as an impostor. W^hat then ? 
That she was the victim of hallucination—that her visions were 
unreal fancies, caused by cerebral excitement; and that her revela¬ 
tions were purely “ subjective,” the result of mental derangement, 
is now the favourite explanation of those who resolve all that is 
wonderful, mysterious, transcending their own experience, into a 
question of “ nerves .” So we read in an old history, that when a 
voice spake from .Heaven, among the by-standers who heard it, 
some recognized it as the voice of an angel, but some “said it 
thundered.” In the present case, the facts are unaccommodating ; 
and they won’t fit the explanation—not even to oblige a philosopher. 
The language and conduct of Joan is too clear, circumstantial, and 
consistent for any such theory. Make any combination of tlfe figures 
you please, and add them up, they will never reach that total. Her 
madness (if it please you so to call it) not only had method in it, but 
was better than any amount of sanity that could then be got together. 
There are some nations now who would be none the worse for a little 
of it. Fancy and hallucination will sometimes account for a great 


JOAN OF ABC. 


83 


deal, but to suppose that they adequately explain the Revolutions of 
Empires, is indeed an odd “ fancy”—one of the strangest “ halluci¬ 
nations that ever deluded philosophers and an enlightened public.* 
The Rev. Horace Bushnell remarks“ It is a matter worthy of 
particular note, when we are falling into the impression that a 
verdict of the thinking men of our time is entitled to authority 
on such a question as this, (the credibility of modern supernaturalism), 
that we have so many characters in history which they can in no 
way interpret, and which are, in fact, impossible to exist under their 
theory. How awkwardly do they handle such characters, and how 
poorly do they get on in their attempt to solve, or even to conceive 
them. Joan of Arc, for instance—who has not observed the strange 
figure of imbecility made by the modern school of literary unbelief 
in the attempt to find a place for any such character ? They can do no¬ 
thing with her. In their view, she is impossible. And yet she has a 
place in history, and enters into the public life of the French nation, 
as a determining cause of great events, in the same manner as Char¬ 
lemagne or any other celebrated commander. She is a phenomenon, 
for which naturalism has no account, and which, under that kind of 
philosophy, had no right to happen. It can say that she was a prodigy 
of straw got up by the leaders, who sought in that manner to retrieve 
the desperate state of their cause; or, that she was insane; or, that 
she was romantic; or, that she was a nervous and flighty girl, doing 
she scarce knew what; or, finally, that she is a myth, and no real 
personage. And yet the history laughs at all such wisdom, showing 
us a character real and true, that refuses to be explained by any such 
feeble inventions in the place of nature, and can be in nowise com¬ 
prehended in that manner. Stie begins to be intelligible only when 
she is classed with Deborah, as a Christian called out from the 

* It has been alleged, that the reverses of the English were occasioned by their “ superstitious 
terror” of the maid. But the reverse of this is more nearly the truth. Her claims were at first 
received by the English with derision, and they fought against her with most determined courage. 
Their subsequent terror of her, resulted from her continued and wonderful success. Monsteelet, 
the only contemporary author who gives any account of Joan, and who was in the Burgundian 
interest, speaks of the English being—“ Overcome by dint of prowess; dispirited by numerous 
losses, alarmed by the great renown of the maid and the wonders they heard of her courage;” but 
he never imputes their misfortunes to superstitious fear. 

So the enthusiasm of the French in her favour, was consequent upon the proofs attesting her 
mission—especially the successive realization of the predictions she so confidently made, on the 
authority of revelations vouchsafed to her. The “ superstition of the times” then, is insufficient 
to explain the facts. 

G 2 


84 


THE VAUDOIS. 


retirement of her sex, by the election of God, and prepared, super- 
naturally, in the place of secret vision.”* 

Joan persistently averred that she was under direct spiritual 
guidance in the mission she undertook and accomplished. Admit 
the truth of her averment, and the riddle is solved; on any other 
theory it is inexplicable. Nor can it be said in this case, that 
spiritual intervention was exercised for any unworthy end. “ What 
indeed,” says Sir James Mackintosh, “could have been a purer 
object for the exercise of Divine power, than the delivery of France 
by the spotless hand of a pure and devout maiden P” What indeed ? 
But for this merciful intervention, not only would France in all 
probability have been subjected to an alien rule, and have suffered 
all the evils incident to a conquered kingdom, but England itself, 
by this time, might have been little more than an appanage of the 
French crown. The cui bono of spiritualism, receives, I think, some 
illustration from the history of France and England in Anno Domini 
1429. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE VAUDOIS.—THE BOHEMIAN CHUBCH.—THE LEADERS OE THE 
PROTESTANT REFORMATION. 

The Spirit-world is the causal world—the world of permanent 
realities; the things we behold in the world of nature, are but 
transitory phenomena—effects developed to our sensuous perceptions 
under conditions of time and space. / Man, even while in nature, is a 
citizen of the spirit-world, and is living, though unconsciously, in its 
midst. As his corporeal structure is sustained by elements from 
the material world, so his spiritual being is sustained \jy elements 
from the spiritual world. They may be drawn from its upper, or its 
lower spheres; as are his aspirations, so will be his inspirations; 
but he cannot, if he would, detach himself from rapport with its 
living though invisible realities. Every great spiritual movement in 
the natural world is impelled onward by the tides and atmospheres 
of the spirit-world. The religious revival in our own age, that in 

* Dr. Bushnell also instances Cromwell, Columbus, Savonarola, and others, as illustrations of 
the same truth. 



THE VAUDOIS. 


85 


the last century under Wesley, that in the seventeenth century under 
George Fox, and the Protestant Reformation a century earlier, all 
attest this truth. The men who were the visible centres of these 
movements, and by whose more immediate agency they were mainly 
conducted, as might be expected, were only more deeply conscious 
of their intimate relation to the spirit-world than those standing 
outside of these movements, or who, in a subsequent age, know 
them but by traditions and records, which give only their reflected, 
and ofttimes distorted image. 

The most great and glorious spiritual manifestations, both as 
regards power and beneficence, ever seen upon our orb, were wit¬ 
nessed eighteen hundred years ago. “ Go, and show John again,” 
said Jesus, “those things which ye do hear and see: the blind 
receive their sight, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead are raised 
up;” and so far was Jesus from teaching that when he was no longer 
visibly present with his disciples these things would cease, that he 
told them—“ He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he 
do also, and greater works than these shall he do.” And He further 
assured them—“ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world.” And have not humble devout Christians in every age 
affirmed that the presence of Christ among them has been made 
evident to their spiritual consciousness ? Have they not in ways 
that are called extraordinary, as well as by ordinary methods, been 
aided according to their needs by Christ and spirits Christ-like— 
one with Him even as He is one with the Father P This faith has 
grown faint and dim in the Christian Church, only as she has 
become dull in heart, gross in life, faint in trust, and dim in spiritual 
perception; and as men have emerged from her bosom strong in 
faith, prayerful in spirit, devout in life, panting for more light and 
higher inspiration, again and again have they found reason to 
delare that a divine strength still encompassed them, as the horses 
and chariots of fire encompassed Elisha—that their steps were 
guided and their councils inspired by a wisdom not their own—that 
God’s angel-hosts guarded and delivered them. If you doubt it, read 
the wonderful history of the Camisars, of which some account is 
given in another chapter, or the scarcely less wonderful and better 
known history of the “ Israel of the Alps,” as an historian designates 
the Vaudois; you will there see that these Christians at least did not 
subscribe to the notion that the age of miracles was past;—that they 
had not exchanged the old faith in a “ God of Hosts” for the modern 


86 


THE VATJD0IS. 


one, in “ the strongest battalions.” Leger, their pastor, speaks of 
their victories over their powerful and relentless foes in such terms 
as, “miraculous deliverance,” “ most miraculous deliverance,” “third 
miraculous deliverance.” 

At one time we read of continued successes gained by seventeen 
men, (six of whom were armed only with slings,) “over enemies 
fifty times more numerous.” The little village of Rora, consisting 
of fifty houses, defended only by this handful of men, was at length 
only taken by a simultaneous attack at different points of three 
divisions of an army of ten thousand men; and even then, the little 
band succeeded in making good their retreat. At another time, 
some of the Vaudois had to retreat at night, it being so very dark, 
that it was found necessary to stretch white cloths upon the shoulders 
of the guides that they might be seen; and to proceed along the edge 
of frightful precipices untrodden by human feet; and yet they, and 
even the wounded on horseback, passed in safety. “When the 
Yaudois beheld these places by daylight, their hair stood upon their 
heads.” “ One who has seen that place would doubtless take that 
march for a fiction or a fancy.” 

It was not only from their mountains that they gained their extra¬ 
ordinary victories; from the plains also the enemy, we are told, was 
swept like chaff before them. The Catholic troops themselves could 
not help exclaiming, “ God must be with these men.” “ In July, 
divers of these Waldenses went out into the country to reap their 
harvest, and in sundry places were all taken prisoners, not knowing 
of each other’s calamity. But God so wrought that miraculously 
they all escaped out of prison, to the great astonishment of their 
adversaries. At the same time, also, others , who had been long in prison, 
and longed for nothing but death, through God’s providence were 
delivered after a wonderful sort.” # 

Again, what to human calculation could appear more Quixotic than 
their enterprise to recover their native valleys, (of which treachery 
had deprived them,) by a body of only eight or nine hundred men, 
against the apparently overwhelming forces of France and Savoy ? 
Yet this enterprise they not only undertook, but successfully 
executed; having to march a fourteen or fifteen days’ journey through 
an enemy’s country, “ where they must charge up high mountains, 
and force divers straight passages, where a hundred might not only 
stop, but beat three thousand.” Successfully did they contend in 

* Clarke's General Martyrolagie. 


THE BOHEMIAN CHURCH. 


87 


nine or ten battles against the army of France and Savoy, and this, 
too, “without any commanders experienced in warlike affairs. 
Muston says:—“ Eleven thousand French, and twelve thousand 
Sardinians were baffled by this handful of heroes, clothed in rags, 
and subsisting on the fare of anchorites.” No wonder that Boyer, 
their historian, speaks of the “wonders,” “miracles, and great 
miracles,” wrought amongst them; nor that Henri Arnaud, their 
noble pastor and leader,—the Gideon of this little host tells of their 
witnessing “ prodigies beyond the course of nature, or the natural 
strength of man.” 

Even the ordinary operations of nature appear in their behalf to 
have deviated from their usual course. “ Can any one,” exclaims 
Arnaud, “ refuse to recognise the hand of Providence in the extra¬ 
ordinary circumstance that the Yaudois were permitted to make their 
harvest, not in the midst of summer, but in the midst of winter P Or 
could any but God have inspired such a handful of men, destitute of 
gold and silver, and of all other earthly succour, with the courage to 
go and make war against a king, who at that time made all Europe 
tremble P Is it possible to imagine that without protection absolutely 
divine, these poor people, lodged in the earth almost like the dead, 
and sleeping upon straw, after having been blockaded for eight 
months, could at last have triumphed ? Does it not seem as if God 
said, ‘ These are my true children, my chosen and beloved, whom it 
is my pleasure to feed by my Providence; let the land of Canaan, to 
which I have brought them back, rejoice to see them again, and 
make them unusual and almost supernatural gifts ? 

If from the history of the Yaudois, we glance at that of another 
martyr-church—the Bohemian, we read concerning it, that “ So 
frequent and so manifest were the judgments of God for the protec¬ 
tion of this feeble and defenceless flock of believers, that even among 
their adversaries, it was in those days (about 1506-10) a common 
saying, ‘ If any one is tired of life, let him assail the Picards—he 
will not outlive the twelvemonth.’ Yarious prodigies of a spiritual 
kind are recorded of them; ‘and,’ says Mr. Boys, ‘it is observable 
that great caution is shown, in examining the evidence of them; for 
example, in respect to those of the earlier part of the seventeenth 
century. On one occasion, the authors abstain from positively 
asserting the fact recorded, because authentic evidence is wanting. 


88 


LEADERS OF THE REFORMATION. 


‘We, however, leave it undetermined, because no eye-witness has 
fallen in our way.’ 

Like their successors—the United Brethren —the Bohemians had 
recourse for the decision of doubtful cases to the lot, believing that 
through this means their decision would be spiritually directed by 
the Lord. They also believed in spiritual visions and prophetic 
dreams. Their martyred leader, John Huss, relates dreams in which 
he received intimation of things which afterwards came to pass ; and 
he, in common with other Bohemians, predicted future events, 
under, as they believed, the influence of the Spirit: of these predic¬ 
tions, that of Huss concerning Luther may be adverted to as, perhaps, 
the best known instance. 

It is conceded that the testimony to spiritualism of the leaders 
of the Protestant Beformation is not so ample as at first-thought 
might be expected. Some of the reasons of this are sufficiently 
obvious—I will name but two. First, they had not to establish the 
truth of this belief, for it was the universal Christian faith of their 
time: their work was to unmask its counterfeits—to bear witness 
against its corruptions and inversions, both in doctrine and practice. 
Secondly, both Bomanist and Protestant had come to the belief 
that as the mission of Christ and his Apostles was attested by acts 
evincing a control over natural forces; so, the manifestation of 
powers beyond those of the natural man were needful only as the signs 
and attestations of a new religious faith. The Bomanists insisted 
that Protestantism was a new religion, and challenged its leaders 
to display those spiritual powers that should manifest their authority. 
The Protestants rejoined that they preached no new gospel, but the 
primitive faith taught by Christ and his Apostles, freed from the 
corruptions and superstitions with which it had been overlaid. To 
have affirmed the existence of spiritual gifts similar to those exercised 
by the Apostles would have been, as it seemed to them, to fall into 
the trap which had been set for them—to admit that they taught a 
new religion, which was just what they were most anxious to avoid. 
But though on these, and other grounds, the Beformers were cautious 
and guarded in their language on this topic, a little investigation 
may convince us that we need be at no loss to discern their senti¬ 
ments upon it. Let me advert briefly to a few instances: first, 
however, remarking that the Beformers stand out to us boldly and 

* Historia Persecutionum Ecclesice Bohemia, 1648 5 as quoted by the Rev. Thomas Bots, 
in his Proofs of the Miraculous Faith and Experience of the Church of Christ in all Ages. 


LEADERS OE THE REFORMATION. 


89 


distinctively as leaders of the Church militant. They were firmly 
persuaded that they had to wage war not alone against priest and 
pope, but against spiritual foes—the potentates of the lower world; 
and hence, as may be expected, in their writings, spiritualism more 
frequently appears under forms of darkness and tempest, than under 
those sunny, peaceful, and benign aspects which it presents in its 
relations to the angel-world. 

As the central figure of the group—the pivotal man of the Be- 
formation— Luther, first and chiefly claims our regard. In a work 
on the Jews, speaking of the Christian faith, he says:—“ From God 
we learned and received it as the eternal word and truth of God, 
confessed and confirmed by miracles and signs during these fifteen 
hundred years to this present time.” And in his Be Purgatione, he 
asks:—“Who can gainsay these things, which God to this day 
worketh miraculously at the tombs of the saints ?” 

He did not desire for himself the grace to work miracles; as, he 
tells us, in that case—“The Papists would immediately say ‘the 
devil does it by him.’ ” It was his desire, even, that God would not 
Bend him “ either visions, or dreams, or angels,” as he wished all his 
thoughts “to be centred in the Scriptures alone.” But he is careful 
to add:—“ Hot, however, that I derogate from the gifts of others, 
if haply to any one, over and above Scripture, God should reveal 
aught by dreams, by visions, or by angels.” And again, he writes: 
—“How, whosoever thou art, that fearest the Lord, be of good 
courage; take thou no care, neither be faint-hearted, nor make any 
doubt of the angels watching and protecting; for most certainly they 
are about thee, and carry thee upon their hands. How, or in what 
manner, it is done, take thou no heed; God says it, therefore it is 
most sure and certain.” 

It is also to be remarked that, according to his own statements, 
Luther many times saw, was tempted by, and conversed with spirits 
from the nether, world. Bazebergius relates that Luther, one even¬ 
ing, as he stood praying, saw the apparition of an evil spirit, or, 
as he thought, of the devil. Luther himself also related the occur¬ 
rence to J. Jonas and Michael Caelius; and Caslius records the fact 
in a passage, to which Seckendorf, in his Histovia LutheranismP, 
refers. 

Michelet, in his Life of Lutlier , has devoted thirty pages to the 
relation of the spiritual visitations and temptations experienced by 
the great Beformer, and to his conversations on this and kindred 


90 


LEADERS OF THE REFORMATION. 


topics. Though some of these stories are evidently apocryphal, yet 
one of Luther’s warmest eulogists—Merle D’Atjbigne, is compelled 
reluctantly to admit, that—“ Satan was not, in Luther’s view, simply 
an invisible, though real being; he thought that this adversary of 
God appeared to man as he had appeared to Jesus Christ. Although 
the authenticity of many of the stories on this subject, contained in 
the Table-talk and elsewhere, is more than doubtful, history must 
still record this failing in the Reformer.” Carlyle tells us:— “ It 
was a faith of Luther’s that there were devils, spiritual denizens of 
the Pit, continually besetting men. Many times in his writings 
this turns up; and a most small sneer has been grounded on it 
by some.” 

Not only did Luther throw his ink-horn at the Devil, but he had 
frequent conferences with him, and, by his own report, appears 
sometimes to have had the worst of the argument. The Devil seems 
to have been very fond of debate; he would even wake Luther in the 
middle of the night to hold a disputation with him; and the latter 
testifies, to finding his antagonist “ very learned and expert.” Luther 
seems to have thought that the Devil had a special grudge against 
him—that he sometimes had recourse to the most petty annoyances 
to worry him—that he was a constant, though by no means welcome 
visitor; always, in fact, pretty near his elbow. Hence he says 
“You needn’t call very loud for the Devil, the rascal is never far 
off” And again, he observes:—“We need not invite the Devil to 
our table, he is too ready to come without being asked; even we, 
who watch and pray daily, have but too much to do with him. The 
air all about us is filled with demons.” From this last remark, and 
from others which might be cited, it is evident that Luther’s “ failing” 
extended to a recognition of the evil and mischief wrought upon 
earth by the power and influence of wicked spirits; as from other 
passages in his writings it is evident that he was also fully conscious 
of the services rendered to God’s servants on earth by His “ minis¬ 
tering spirits.” 

To those who attribute Luther’s belief in these things to simple 
and excessive credulity, it is sufficient to quote his own language and 
conduct. When some one gave him an account of a woman pos¬ 
sessed of a devil, he cautioned the adoption of suitable measures “ in 
order to obviate any possibility of fraud;” adding—“ I feel disposed 
to disbelieve everything that I have not ocular or auricular proof 
of.” And when the Zwickau prophets, in support of their extrava- 


LEADERS OF THE REFORMATION. 


91 


gant practices, urged that they had immediate visions and revela¬ 
tions from God, and appealed to Luther for support; he, with 
robust good sense, and in a way exhibiting the utmost sober-minded¬ 
ness, at once set himself against their fanatical follies. “The 
Divine Majesty,” said he, “ does not speak to man immediately, as 
they call it, so that they have visions of God, for he saith ‘ No flesh 
shall see me and live.’ Human nature could not survive the least 
syllable of the Divine utterance. So God addresses man through 
men, because we could not endure his speaking to us without a 
medium.” 

In “ the solitary monk who shook the world,” we see a truly brave, 
heroic soul. Trusting in God, and strong in earnest faith, he 
fought a good fight, undaunted by menace of Emperor, Pope, or 
Devil. He had the deepest conviction of the divine origin of the 
doctrine he taught; he felt that his work was of God; and all 
spiritual action and teaching, hindering, or discordant with it, he 
at once attributed to immediate satanic agency. This view was com¬ 
pounded partly of fact, partly of inference; it is important to dis¬ 
tinguish the one from the other. We may accept the fact that 
Luther saw and conversed with spiritual beings, without endorsing 
his conclusion that they were devils, or Beelzebub himself* It is 
evident that Luther’s judgment herein received its impress from 
early teachings and the dominant ideas of his time. By comparing 
his, with other experiences, especially, of a more recent date, we 
may be led to what I think is a truer explanation. Luther may, or 
may not have been mistaken as to the character and purposes of 
the spirits who visited him; but in either case, there appears to be 
no reason for the assumption that they were other than human, nor 
would they in all probability ever have been regarded as other, but 
for fore-gone conclusions derived elsewhere. At all events, the 


* There is a passage in Luthek’s De Missa Privata et Unct Sacerd, in which he gives an 
account of a conference he had with the Devil on the subject of private masses. Luther tells 
us, that on this occasion—“ The Devil put forth his whole argumentative force; and/te has a deep 
and strong voice." Luther reports the debate at considerable length, and, what is not a little 
extraordinary, he gives the Devil the right side of the argument; and is convinced by him of the 
idolatrous nature of private masses, which Luther had been in the daily habit of saying for 
many years; but which he from this time abandoned. 

I put it to the common sense of the reader, whether in this case it is more likely that 
Luther’s interlocutor was the Devil in propria persona, or, a human spirit, desirous of leading 
the Reformer to abandon the doctrine and practice in question; but whom Luther, from his 
previously formed opinions, believed to be the Devil. 


92 


LEADERS OF THE REFORMATION. 


facts in question seem more intelligible on this hypothesis than on 
any other. 

Luther also believed in spiritual possession, and in dispossession 
through fasting and prayer, as his statements, and still more his 
conduct renders evident. Seckendorf relates that on one occasion 
certain persons—“ Had brought to Luther a girl eighteen years old, 
declaring her to be possessed with a devil. He ordered her to say 
the Apostles’ Creed. Having begun to do so, the moment she came 
to the words ‘and in Jesus Christ,’ &c., she stopped, and was 
miserably agitated or convulsed by the evil spirit. Upon this, 
Luther said, ‘I know thee, Satan, thou wouldst have me begin 
exorcising with great parade; but I will do no such thing.’ The 
next day she was brought into the church, while Luther was preach¬ 
ing, and after sermon, into a small chapel. She there immediately 
fell prostrate on the ground, struggling and kicking; but was raised 
by the students who were present. Then Luther addressed the 
people . . . After that, Luther laid his hand on the girl’s head, 
repeated the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, as also the words, (John 
xiv. 12) ‘ He, aat believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do 
also, and greater works than these shall he do.’ He then prayed to 
God with the rest of the ministers of the church, that for Christ’s 
sake he would cast the devil out of the girl. He then with his foot 
touched the girl herself, with these words: “ Proud devil, thou 
wouldst indeed that I should now proceed against thee with great 
parade, but I will do no such thing. I know that thy head is 
crushed, and that thou liest prostrate at, and under the feet of our 
Lord Jesus Christ.’ He then went away; and the girl was taken 
home to her frieuds, who afterwards wrote that she was no more 
troubled by the devil.” 

Seckendorf also refers to many remarkable prophecies of Luther’s 
—concerning the Emperor Charles:—poncerning the then future 
state of Germany and of Protestantism:—and, in relation to various 
individuals. Of these predictions, Seckendorf says:—“ That Luther 
was not erroneously of opinion that he spake in the Spirit, was 
proved by the result.” The majority of readers will think that he 
spoke only from a shrewd forecast of events, the result of his own 
natural sagacity, or, when the events predicted are too circum¬ 
stantial to admit of this explanation, they will hold them to be mere 
coincidences, lucky guesses which happened to come true. All 
that I am now concerned with, however, is that this was not Luther’s 


LEADERS OP THE REFORMATION. 


93 


view; his words are: “ I certainly am of opinion that I speak these 
things in the Spirit.” Mr. Boys, in the work before mentioned, points 
out Luther’s persuasion of a divine impulse, or spiritual insti¬ 
gation by which he was moved to attack the Papacy; and that, be it 
observed, before his mind was made up on grounds of conviction and 
scriptural demonstration, on many points connected with the con¬ 
troversy.’ He felt this, however, with growing distinctness as his 
work proceeded, and “ by a more accurate consideration of Scripture 
was confirmed in it.”* 

Melancthon believed in spiritual apparitions, of which he gives a 
remarkable example, drawn from his own family—his father’s sister 
having appeared to her husband after death, and earnestly conjured 
him to pray for her; and he recognised the continued agency in the 
world, of spirits both good and evil. It was, as he believed, by the 
friendly warning of an angel, who appeared to him, and which he 
communicated to his friend Grynaeus, a learned Protestant divine, 
that the latter was saved from the malice of his enemies, and his 
life preserved. 

Of Calvin, we learn that “ He regarded Satanic wonders as super¬ 
natural and real, not mere sleights;” and it is related that he 
“ Occasionally predicted future events; and the fulfilment of his 
predictions is distinctly recorded by Beza in the character of his 
biographer.” The following relation is also given by Beza; and it 
would be satisfactory to many persons, if, in the interest of science, 
those who in the circumstance detailed, see only the operation of 
physical causes, will explain how, upon their principles, Calvin, at 
Geneva, could hear the beat of battle-drums in Paris. The circum¬ 
stance of the wind’s blowing violently from the north, seems to be 
mentioned for the purpose of more strongly marking, what indeed is 
of itself sufficiently evident, that the sounds could by no possibility 
have reached Geneva in a natural way. Beza gives the account as 
follows“ One thing must not be omitted, that on the 19th of 
December, 1562, Calvin, lying in bed sick of the gout, it being the 
Sabbath-day, and the north wind having blown two days strongly, 
he said to many who were present, ‘ Truly I know not what is the 
matter, but I thought this night I heard warlike drums beating very 
loud, and I could not persuade myself but it was so. Let us, there¬ 
fore, go to prayer, for surely some great business is in hand.’ An d 

* Mr. Boys quotes, in support of this, Seckendouf, Lib. iii., S. cxl., 1., of which he gives 
both the original and translation. 


94 


LEADERS OP THE REFORMATION. 


tliis day there was a great battle fought between the Guisians and 
the Protestants not far from Paris, news whereof came to Geneva 
within a few days after.” 

Possibly, the word “ coincidence,” which bears the burden of so 
many mysteries, and explains none, may be saddled with this also; 
but Calvin and Beza thought otherwise, and it is their views I am 
now illustrating. 

Of Bucer, it may be sufficient to cite Mr. Boys’ remark, supported 
as it is by quotation from that Reformer, that—“ With due qualifica¬ 
tion of the Popish notions, he believed both in demoniacal possession 
and in exorcism ;” and of Beza, to quote his own statement that— 
« According as God in his righteous judgment grants liberty to the 
spirit, it is not difficult to evil spirits to mis-employ a corpse; and 
for the purpose of deceiving some one, to speak in it, exactly as he 

uses the tongue of living demoniacs.So also it often appears 

in profane histories that brutes, and even idols, have spoken : which, 
indeed, is by no means to be rejected as false.” Again, he 
writes on Matt, iv., 24—“There are not wanting persons, with 
whom demon or devil means nothing more than madness; that is to 
Bay, a natural malady, and one which may be cured by physic. Such 
persons, however, are refuted both by sacred and profane histories, 
and by frequent experience.” To the same effect Musculus writes :— 
« These malignant spirits lurk in statues aud images, inspire sooth¬ 
sayers, compose oracles,and influence the flight of birds; trouble 
life, disquiet sleep, distort the members, break down the health, 
harass with diseases, &c.” 

John Knox does not seem to have experienced the same spiritual 
conflicts as Martin Luther; nor had he his catholic spirit; his 
nature was not softened by those social amenities, and that love of 
music and art which distinguished the German Reformer; but in 
other respects he may be regarded as the Martin Luther of Scotland. 
He was a stern Iconoclast—a witness for the supreme sovereignty of 
the living God. Carlyle calls him:—“ An old Hebrew Prophet in 
the guise of an Edinburgh Minister of the sixteenth century.” Knox 
himself affirms very distinctly that he was illuminated by the spirit 
of prophecy. He says“ I dare not deny (lest I be injurious to the 
giver) that God hath revealed unto me secrets unknown to the 
world; yea certain great revelations of mutations and changes when 
no such things were feared, nor yet were appearing ; notwithstanding 
these revelations, I did abstain to commit anything to writing, con- 



LEADERS OE THE REFORMATION. 95 

tented only to have obeyed the charge of him who commanded me to 
cry.” 

Mr. Boys remarks that in some of the works of Knox, we 
find:—“ Predictions not only in the event most true, but in their 
details so 'particular that they can hardly be resolved, on any principle, 
into mere inferences, or sagacious prognostications, derived from a 
general view of God’s word, however attentively studied and spiritu¬ 
ally applied; but must rather be viewed as predictions or prophecies, 
in the strictest sense of the word, and as so intended by Knox him¬ 
self. A good, humble, and simple-hearted man—and Knox was all 
this—would not have spoken as he sometimes speaks, without in¬ 
tending to convey an idea that he was really prophesying, or fore¬ 
telling by inspiration in the proper meaning of the terms. The 
predictions to which I refer, were not only express, but personal; 
that is relating to what should happen to individuals” Of this, Mr. 
Boys gives several examples, for which I must refer the reader to 
his very valuable work. 

Dr. Mac Crie, in his Life of John Knox , after referring to 
some of his prophetic sayings, remarks:—“ It cannot be denied that 
his contemporaries considered these as proceeding from a prophetic 
spirit, and have attested that they received an exact accomplishment. 
The most easy way of getting rid of this delicate subject, is to dismiss 
it at once, and summarily to pronounce that all pretensions to 
extraordinary premonitions, since the completion of the canon of 
inspiration, are unwarranted, and that they ought, without examina¬ 
tion, to be discarded, and treated as fanciful and visionary. But I 
doubt much if this mode of determining the question would be doing 
justice to the subject. A prudent inquirer would not be disposed to 
acknowledge as preternatural whatever was formerly regarded in 
this light, and will be on his guard against the illusions of imagina¬ 
tion as to impressions which may be made on his own mind. But 
on the other hand, there is danger of running into scepticism, and 
of laying down general principles which may lead us obstinately to 
contest the truth of the best authenticated facts, and to limit the 
operations of divine providence. That there have been instances of 
persons having had presentiments as to events which afterwards 
did happen to themselves and others, there is, I think, the best 
reason to believe. The esprits forts who laugh at vulgar credulity, 
and exert their ingenuity in accounting for such phenomena on 
ordinary principles, have been exceedingly puzzled with some of these 


96 LEADERS OE THE REFORMATION - . 

facts—a great deal more puzzled than they have confessed; and the 
solutions which they have given, are, in some instances, as myste¬ 
rious as anything included in the intervention of superior spirits, or 
in preternatural and divine intimations.” 

Knox also held that Wishart, Grindal, and other godly men among 
the Reformers spoke by spiritual revelation of things that were to 
happen. “ In the*course of his writings,” says Mr. Boys, “ we find him 
repeatedly mentioning different servants of God, as persons by whom 
such a power was exercised; and appealing to his hearers as to the fact, 
both of their predicting, and of the fulfilment of their predictions. 
He also records, believingly, certain spiritual visions seen by that 
‘blinded prince,’ James of Scotland, which he says—‘men of good 
credit can yet report.’ ” 

I have incidentally mentioned the name of George Wishart, and 
though he does not occupy so prominent a place in the annals of 
the Reformation as others to whom reference has been made, yet one 
or two anecdotes in illustration of the presentiments spiritually im¬ 
parted to him may not here be out of place, especially as they are 
but little known. The first, from Knox’s History of the Reformation of 
the Church of Scotland, is as follows“ While he was so occupied with 
his God (in preaching and meditation) the Cardinal (Beatoun) drew a 
secret draught. He caused write unto him a letter, as it had been from 
his most familiar friend, the Laird of Kinnyre, desiring him with all 
possible diligence to come unto him, for he was struck with a sudden 
sickness. In the meantime had the traitor provided three-score men, 
with jackis and spears, to lie in wait within a mile-and-a-half of the town 
of Montrois, for his dispatch. The letter coming to his hand, he made 
haste at the first, for the boy had brought a horse, and so with some 
honest men he passed forth of the town. But suddenly he stayed, and 
musing a pace, returned back; whereat they wondering, he said:— 
1 1 w iH no t go. I am forbidden of God. I am assured there is treason. 
Let some of you,’ said he, ‘go to yon place, and tell me what they 
find.’ Diligence made, they found the treason as it was: which 
being shewn, with expedition, to Mr. George, he answered, ‘ I know 
that I shall end my life in that blood-thirsty man’s hands, but it will 
not be of this manner.’ ” 

Subsequently, Wishart was apprehended and put to death by the 
machinations of his enemy, the Cardinal, according to his own 
prophecy. The Cardinal was present at the martyr’s death, reposing 
leisurely, with other prelates, upon rich cushions, laid for their 


"WITCHCRAFT. 


97 


accommodation in the windows of a tower, from which the execution 
might be seen. The following is from the account of it, in “ Howie’s 
Biographia Scotland :—“Being raised up from his knees, he was 
bound to the stake, crying with a loud voice, * 0, Saviour of the 
world, have mercy upon me! Father of Heaven, I commend my 
spirit into thy holy hands!’ Whereupon, the executioner kindled 
the fire, and the powder that was fastened to his body blew up. The 
captain of the castle, perceiving that he was still alive, drew near, 
and bid him be of good courage: whereupon Mr. Wishart said:— 
‘This flame hath scorched my body, yet it hath not daunted my 
spirit; but he who, from yonder place, beholdeth us with such pride, 
shall within a few days lie in the same as ignominiously as he is now 
seen proudly to rest himself.”* 

A few weeks after this, the castle was surprised, and the cardinal 
was put to death, and his body was suspended from the window 
whence he had witnessed the martyrdom of Wishart, whose pre¬ 
diction was thus fulfilled. 


CHAPTER XI. 

WITCHCRAFT. 

That there is a spiritual world in close proximity to the natural 
world;—that these worlds interact upon each other: that men have 
held direct intercourse with spirits ;—that spirits have operated by 
and through individuals on this our earth, and have exercised con¬ 
trol over material agencies;—that they have impressed and in¬ 
fluenced the minds of men, and in various ways manifested their 
will and power in the natural world, both for good and evil, is not 

* The Rev. Horace Bushnell remarks of the work from which this is taken :—“ Whoever 
has read that Christian classic, The Scots Worthies, has followed a stream of prophecies, and 
healings, and visible judgments, and specific answers to prayer, and discernments of spirits, 
corresponding, at all points, with the gifts and wonders of the apostolic age. And the men that 
figure in these gifts and powers, are the great names of the heroic age of religion in their country— 
Wishart, Knox, Erskine, Craig, Davidson, Simpson, Welch, Guthrie, Blair, Welwood, Cameron, Car¬ 
gill, and Peden. And it is a curious fact, in regard to this great subject, that, while we believe so 
little, and deny so much, and hold so many opposite assumptions, this same book of Howie, that 
chronicles in beautiful simplicity more gifts and wonders than all of Irving’s, is published by one 
of the largest and most conservative bodies of Christians in our country, and is read by thousands, 
young and old, with eager delight. Is it that we like miracles and supernatural wonders, so far 
off that we need not, or that we can, believe them Nature and the Supernatural . 

H 



98 


WITCHCRAFT. 


merely a Jewish, or a Pagan belief, but one that may properly be 
called Human. Looking not at individuals, but at the various 
nations and races of men, we may truly aver that it is co-extensive 
with humanity. It has descended to us from hoar antiquity, clothed 
in the legends and traditions of peoples whose places know them 
no more: and History has recorded, that in one form or other, this 
belief has been perpetuated from age to age. We have seen that 
the devout Hebrew, the philosophic Pagan, the Christian Apologist, 
has, each in his own way, asserted it. It was a common faith be¬ 
tween Catholic and Protestant, bridging over the mediaeval and the 
modern world. It was held most firmly by the papal church when 
most papal, and by the protestant churches when most protestant. 

This belief occupied a prominent position in the theology, and 
exercised a considerable influence over the fifteenth, sixteenth, and 
seventeenth centuries. As I may, perhaps, be reminded, it was then 
most apparent in the prevalent belief in witchcraft: and upon 
this text I expect much monitory discourse on the “ fearful conse¬ 
quences” of “ spiritualism” and “ credulity,” with a moral in favour 
of “ the more enlightened age in which it is our privilege to dwell.” 

That in this matter of witchcraft, there was folly, knavery, delu¬ 
sion, hallucination, and even insanity, is, I think, unquestionable; 
but that this belief had no veritable facts to stand upon, is, I think, 
very questionable. The men of those times have left us some proofs 
that they were not quite deficient in common sense, and however 
they may have been mistaken in their judgment in many things, 
I opi,ne that they were at least as well qualified to judge of the reality 
of facts which came under their observation as critics born two or 
three centuries after the events occurred. It is quaintly remarked 
by Glanvil that:—“Frequency of deceit and fallacy will warrant a 
greater care and caution in examining, and a greater scrupulosity 
and shyness of assent to things wherein fraud had been practised, 
or may in the least degree be suspected; but to conclude that 
because an old woman’s fancy hath abused her, or some knavish 
fellow hath put tricks on the ignorant and timorous, that therefore 
whole assizes have been deceived in judgment upon matters of fact, and 
that numbers of persons have been foresworn in things wherein 
perjury could not advantage them—I say, such inferences are as 
void of charity as of good manners. In things of fact, the people 
are as much to be believed as the most subtle philosophers and 
speculators, since then sense is the judge.” From the Reverend 


WITCHCRAFT. 


99 


Joseph Glanvil to the Times newspaper is a long stride; but even 
the leading journal seems to think that scepticism has gone too far 
in denial of facts of this description. A leader of September 24, 
1863, speaking of reputed wizards and sorcerers concludes that: — 
Their operations were based upon the influence of imagination 
over the functions of the physical body, and the very belief which 
gave them their reputation gave them also their power. This power* 
we can hardly doubt, was often wickedly exercised, and the old 
stories of Witchcraft may rest upon better foundations of fact than 
has been commonly imagined.” 

Of one thing there can be no doubt, namely, that a belief in 
witchcraft was then universal. Dr. Middleton concedes that— “ All 
Christian nations whatsoever have consented in this belief.” It 
was a belief held by all classes, learned and illiterate, ecclesiastical 
and secular; by parliaments, kings, emperors and popes; by the 
most eminent judges, statesmen, scholars, philosophers, and divines; 
by Anglican and Puritan; by bishops like Jewell, and nonconformists 
like Baxter. Even so late as the eighteenth century, we find John 
Wesley, declaring that the giving up of witchcraft is in effect 
giving up the Bible; and Judge Blackstone, in his Commentaries, 
affirming that:—“ To deny the possibility, nay, actual existence of 
witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed 
Word of God in various passages of both the Old and New Testa¬ 
ment, and the thing is itself a truth to which every nation in the 
world hath borne testimony, either by examples seemingly well 
attested, or by prohibitory laws which, at least, suppose the possi- , 
bility of commerce with evil spirits.” When, in addition, we bear in 
mind the evidence given in courts of justice, by witnesses on oath, 
and the confessions of many of the accused, it is difficult to resist 
the conclusion that this belief must have had a basis of fact upon 
which to rest. The Reverend Thomas Scott in his Commentary on 
Exodus, xxii., 18, says :—“ It seems one of the most flagrant absurdi¬ 
ties of modern Sadduceeism to suppose that God himself would 
repeatedly command the magistrates of His people to punish with 
death a crime which never was committed.” And after referring to 
a number of texts to show that it is “ spoken of in Scripture as a 
real practice, he adds:—“ That witchcraft hath been, may be, and 
that it still is in some parts of the world, actually practised, seems 
capable of proof, were any collateral evidence necessary to confirm 
the truth of the divine testimony.” 

h 2 


100 


WITCHCRAFT. 


That many cases of so called witchcraft were genuine spirit-mani¬ 
festations, can I think be clearly established. That there are points 
of identity between certain of these and of those of our own time, 
has been apparent to both opponents and advocates of Spiritualism; 
thus, Dr. L. Robertson, writing agamst Spiritualism in the Asylum 
Journal of Medical Science, says :—“ The whole story of the spiritu¬ 
alists, including the rapping, and even the visible spiritual hand, 
was firmly believed and recorded by the pilgrim fathers.” 

Just so! I will quote from these and other records some in¬ 
stances in point. Dr. Cotton Mather, in his Ecclesiastical History 
of New England, records some molestations of evil spirits at the 
house of William Morse, of Newberry, in 1679, which strongly 
reminds one of occurrences at the house of Dr. Phelps of Stratford 
Conn, in 1850. Dr. Mather relates that bricks, sticks, stones, and 
pieces of wood were thrown by an invisible hand, that an iron crook 
was violently, by an invisible hand, hurled about, and that a chair 
flew about the room. A chest was by an invisible hand carried 
from one place to another; and the doors barricaded, and the keys 
of the family taken, some of them from the bunch where the^ were 
tied, and the rest flying about with a loud noise of their knocking 
against one another. The man was often struck by the invisible 
hand with several instruments; the invisible hand cast their good 
things into the fire, and threw ashes into their plates while at 
supper. While the man was writing, his ink-horn was by the in¬ 
visible hand snatched from him, and being able nowhere to find it, 
he saw it at length drop out of the air into the fire. A little boy 
belonging to the family was a principal sufferer in these molesta¬ 
tions ; he was flung about at such a rate that it was not possible 
to hold him, and by the invisible agency he would be transported 
from one place to another. His bed-clothes would be pulled from 
him, his bed shaken, and his bed-staff leap forward and backward. 
Before these manifestations came to an end, the invisible hand which 
did all these things, began to put on an astonishing visibility. At 
length, an apparition of a black-a-moor child showed itself plainly 
to them. Another time, a drumming op the boards was heard, 
which was followed by a noise that sang, “ Revenge! revenge! 
sweet is revenge!” At this, the people, very terrified, called upon 
God; whereupon there followed a mournful note, several times, 
uttering these expressions, “Alas! alas! we knock no more, we 
knock no more.” About Salem, the centre of the colony, some 


WITCHCRAFT. 


101 


scores of people were arrested with “ preternatural vexations” upon 
their bodies: sometimes these spiritual tormentors would be 
visible to those whom they afflicted. Sometimes a person’s hands 
wopld be tied closely together with a rope to be plainly seen, 
and then by unseen hands he would be presently pulled up a great 
way from the earth before a crowd of'people. The “prestigious 
daemons” would every now and then cover the most corporeal things 
with a fascinating mist of invisibility. 

“ Flashy people,” says the Doctor, “ may burlesque these things; 
but when hundreds of the most sober people, in a country where 
they have as much mother-wit, certainly, as the rest of mankind, 
know them to be true, nothing but the froward spirit of Sadduceeism 
can question them. I have not yet mentioned so much as one thing 
that will not be justified, if required, by the oaths of more considerate 
persons than any that can be found to ridicule these odd phenomena.” 

This history was published in New England, shortly after the 
events narrated. John Higginson, sixty years minister of the gospel 
in Salem, “ In the love and fear of God,” bears witness to the truth 
of it. Nathaniel Mather, John Howe, and Mathew Mead, also aver 
that the author—“ is a person of such well known integrity, prudence, 
and veracity, that there is not any cause to question the truth of 
what he here relates.” 

I give another passage from the records of the pilgrim fathers, as 
I find it, presented by a writer in the New England Spiritualist, 
together with some comments of the writer of the article. 

“ What does * belief in witches’ imply ? It implies some little faith 
in our Colonial history. In that, one reads, that Margaret Rule, of 
Boston, was raised by invisible power from her bed in a horizontal 
position up to the ceiling above, and held there with such force that 
it took two or three men to pull her down; that she saw seven or 
eight apparitions , three or four of whom she thought she knew; that 
besides the Black Man, there came to her a glorious white spirit, 
whose words were full of hope and comfort; also, that when upon 
her bed in Boston, she saw a young man overboard in the harbour, 
and named him; that the next day it was ascertained that this same 
young man was overboard, and in danger of being drowned, at the 
very time when Margaret said she saw him in the water. Mercy 
Lewis, too, of Salem, another bewitched one, i. e., clairvoyant medium, 
saw a glorious white spirit, and described a scene of wondrous 
brightness, above that of the noon-day sun. In the case of the Rev. 


102 


WITCHCRAFT. 


George Burroughs, the similarity of some phases of witchcraft to 
our modem Spiritualism, comes out with marked distinctness. 
The witnesses who were called to testify against him—and these 
witnesses were afflicted ones or mediums—at his trial, horri¬ 
fied the court and the beholders, by declaring that they then 
scm Burroughs ’ two deceased wives standing at his side. Some 
wonderful feats of strength performed by this little man, he him¬ 
self accounted for by saying that an Indian did the same. The 
bystanders could see no Indian; therefore they concluded that it 
was The Black Man,—The Devil, who helped him; ‘for,’ says the 
historian, ‘the afflicted ones generally say that The Black Man 
resembles an Indian.’ Why not then believe him to have been in 
each case an Indian Spirit ?” The question is a pertinent one ; and 
the only answer to it seems to be that men’s minds were then so 
filled with theological preconceptions, that no room was left for any 
other inference, however clearly the facts might seem to require it. 

The same article also has the following curious and sug¬ 
gestive passage:—“Magnetizers, whose presence induced fits, 
convulsions, and trance upon susceptible subjects, whether to 
mundane or to spirit influence, were alike deemed the servants 
of the evil one, and as such suffered death. When near a score 
of them had thus been put out of the world, it was seen and 
felt on high, that either a stop must be put to such works, or 
the infant nation would be ruined; then the powers of the Chris¬ 
tian heavens, “ legions of angels,” brought a force to bear which 
thwarted the purpose of Indian spirits to make the whites their 
own destroyers, and thus restore their land to the aborigines. The 
work of destruction ceased with an unexplained abruptness. We 
have hinted here the cause of that sudden change, as it was recently 
stated to us by one of the victims.” 

The misconception referred to was the true cause of the cruel 
persecution and death of thousands of reputed witches.* The facts, 
misunderstood, were ridden by theories, and viewed in the lurid light of 
a baneful superstition, compounded of Paganism, Judaism, and a cqr- 

* At the same time, it must be admitted, that many of these persons were of disreputable 
character. Mr. Sharp remarks that:— “ Many of them made a boast of their supposed art to 
intimidate and extort from their neighbours whatever they desired ; they were frequently of an 
abandoned life, and addicted to horrible oaths and imprecations; and in several cases vendors of 
downright poisons, by which they gratified their customers in the darkest purposes of avarice and 
revenge.” Sir "Walter Scott, and other writers, might be cited to the same effect. No wonder 
that such characters should attract spirits disorderly and evil like themselves. 


WITCHCRAFT. 


103 


rupted Christianity. The manifestations of invisible power that were 
witnessed, were regarded, not as proceeding from human spirits, but 
as the work of the Devil and his imps. If spirits made themselves 
visible, no matter that they were seen as Indians, Africans, Euro¬ 
peans, or even as neighbours, friends, and relatives; this was only 
a greater proof of the malice and subtlety of Satan, who assumed 
these forms the more readily to deceive those who saw them. When 
we find a powerful intellect like Luther’s, believing that a spirit who 
conversed with him in “ a deep strong voice,” and by his arguments 
convinced him of the errors of the Komish system, was the Devil, 
we need not wonder at this popular delusion. It was a foregone 
conclusion established and favoured by the then dominant theology. 
The witch was believed to be in league with the great arch-fiend for 
the injury and destruction of mankind. Hence the criminality 
attached to witchcraft. Thus, in the Act of Parliament of James the 
First, a witch is defined as “ One that shall use, practise, or exercise 
any conjuration of any evil or wicked spirit to or for any intent or pur¬ 
pose.” Such offender, lawfully convicted, was doomed to death. 
Travelling backwards, we find from the Statute-book, that in the 
reign of Elizabeth, it was only witchcraft “ whereby death ensued” 
that was declared a capital offence. If its practice was attended with 
other crimes of a less heinous character, it was punishable by im¬ 
prisonment, the pillory, or forfeiture of goods and chattels, with 
imprisonment for life, according to the gravity of the offence. At an 
earlier period, we find that the church indeed reprobated witchcraft, 
and the belief in witchcraft, as leading to heresy, but the witch was 
not burnt unless clea/rly cl heretic. ** It is to be observed that neither 
among the Homan nor the Pagan nations of Northern Europe was 
witchcraft deemed an offence against religion; in some instances, 
indeed, the witch was supposed to derive her power from spirits 
friendly to mankind, and her profession though feared, was held in 
honour by her infatuated dupes. Upon the introduction of Chris¬ 
tianity, witchcraft assumed a new form, though retaining all its old 
attributes. Instead of ascribing the supernatural powers of the 
practitioner to the gods, to Odin, to spirits of good or evil qualities, 
or to supposed mysteries in nature, the people imputed them to the 
great fallen spirit mentioned in Scripture. This potent being, from 
a wicked desire to destroy all that, was good and hopeful in man s 
destiny, was believed to enter into a compact with the aspirant 
witch, in which, for an irrevocable assignment of her soul at death, 


104 


WITCHCRAFT. 


lie was to grant all her wishes, and assist in all her malevolent 
projects. These new features in witchcraft, thoroughly changed and 
prodigiously extended the superstition throughout Europe. As this 
superstition gained force in the Christian world, the devil gradually 
lost many of the former features of his character; or rather, a dif¬ 
ferent being was substituted for him, combining the characteristics 
of the Scandinavian LohTce, with those of a satyr of the heathen 
mythology. Such as he was, he played an important part in the 
annals of modern witchcraft, which was supposed to rest entirely on 
the direct and personal agency of himself and the imps commissioned 
by him.”* (Article. Superstitions. Chambers’ Information for the 
People.) 

To debit spiritualism with the consequences of the mistake here 
pointed out, is as reasonable as charging Christianity with causing 
the fires of Smithfield. Had the true nature of spiritual intercourse 
been better understood, and the facts connected therewith rationally 
investigated at the time of their occurrence, we should have been 
spared those appalling results which constitute one of the darkest 
and saddest chapters in the annals of history; and there can be no 
doubt that philosophy and psychological science would have been 
largely benefitted by such investigations. 

Chambers, in his Domestic Annals of Scotland, gives an account of 
one Elizabeth Dunlop, who was tried for witchcraft. “Her only 
offence was giving information, as from a supernatural source, re¬ 
garding articles which had been stolen, and for the cure of diseases. 
‘ She herself had nae kind of art nor science sae to doshe obtained 
her information, when she required it, from ‘ ane Tom Reid, wha 
died at Pinkie,’ that is, at the battle fought there twenty-nine years 
before.” She gave a minute description of the personal appearance 
of this Tom Reid, and stated that on one occasion—“ ‘ Tom gave out 
.of his own hand, ane thing like the root of ane beet, and bade her 
either seethe or make ane saw (salve) of it; or else dry it, and 

* Many of the vulgar traditions and grotesque accessories of witchcraft are, apparently, cor¬ 
ruptions of early Aryan myths, originating in the observation of natural phenomena, and expressed 
in the highly figurative and poetic language of an unscientific, but reflective and highly imaginative 
people. (See Kelly’s Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-Lore.) 

The medicated unguents with which the witches sometimes anointed their bodies, may, through 
their effects on the nervous system, have induced a state of coma; and the diablerie of the 
sabbat may thus have been real subjective experiences, their peculiar form taking the impress of 
the belief then and there prevalent. The impressions which the witch fastened on the minds of 
others were doubtless often similar to those with which we are now so familiar in what are called 
biological experiments. 


WITCHCRAFT. 

» 


105 


make powder of it, and give it to sick persons, and they should 

mend.She mendit John Jack’s bairn, and Wilson’s of the 

town.The Lady Thirdpart, in the Barony of Renfrew, sent to 

her, and speerit at her wha it was that had stolen frae her twa horns 
of gold, and ane crown of the sun, out of her purse ? And after 
she had spoken with Tom, within twenty days she sent her word wha 

had them; and she gat them again.Being demandit of William 

Kyle, burgess in Irwine, as he was coming out of Dumbarton, wha 
was the stealer of Hugh Scott’s cloak, ane burgess of the same town ? 
Tom answerit, * That the cloak wald not be gotten, because it was 
ta’en away by Mally Boyd, dweller in the same town, and was put out 
of the fashion of ane cloak in [to] ane kirtle,’ &c. Bessie being 
asked how she knew that her visitor was Tom Reid, who died at 
Pinkie, answered, ‘ That she never knew him when he was in life, 
but that she should not doubt that it was he bade her gang to Tom 
Reid, his son, now officer in his place to the Laird of Blair, and to 
certain others, his kinsmen and friends there, whom he named, and 
bade them restore certain goods, and mend other offences that they 
had done.’ ” &c. 

Another case is that of Christian Shaw, of Bargarran, a girl about 
eleven years of age. Among other phenomena in her case, we read 
that she was moved through the air without touching the ground; 
she was lifted up to the top of the house; she was, by invisible 
hands, dragged down into the cellar, &c. She would reason with 
her tormentors, implore them to leave her, and wonder why others 
did not see them as well as herself.* 

The Baron Dupotet, in his Introduction to the Study of Animal 
Magnetism, cites several cases of witchcraft in the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, in which genuine mesmeric and spiritual 
phenomena were unmistakeably present. Among others quoted by 
him is the following, being an abstract of a narrative published in 

1697, entitled, The Surrey Demoniack, or an Account of Satan's 
strange and d/readful Actings in and about the bod/y of Richard JDugdale, 
of Surrey, near Whatley, in Lancashire. “In the year 1697 , Richard 
Dugdale, a boy nineteen years of age, excited considerable attention 
in Surrey as a demoniac; his fits were witnessed and verified by 
numerous clergymen, physicians, and persons of respectability. 

* ^ full account of this case, which is attested by a Commission of the Privy Council, will be 
found in Sadducismus Debellatus, or, A True Narrative, %c. Collected from the Records, 

1698. 





106 


WITCHCRAFT. 


•* 

His fits commenced with violent convulsions, his sight or eyeballs 
turned upwards and backwards; he afterwards answered questions, 
predicted during one fit the period of accession and duration of 
another fit; spoke in foreign languages, of which at other times he 
was ignorant, and described events passing at a distance. Here 
again I shall quote verbatim the words of the narration :—‘ At the 
end of one fit the demoniac told what hour of the night or day his 
next would begin, very precisely and punctually, as was constantly 
observed, though there was no equal or set distance of time between 
his fits; betwixt which there would sometimes be a few hours, some¬ 
times many; sometimes one day, sometimes many days.’ * He 
would have told,’ says one of the deponents on oath, ‘ when his fits 
would begin, when they were two or three in one day, or three or 
four days asunder, wherein he never was, that the deponent knoweth 
of, disappointed.’ On one occasion, while the minister was preaching 
to him, he exclaimed, ‘ At ten o’clock my next fit comes on.’ ‘ Though 
he was never learned in the English tongue, and his natural and 
acquired abilities were very ordinary, yet when the fit seized him he 
often spake Latin, Greek, and other languages very well.’ He often 
told of things in his fits done at a distance, whilst those things were 
a-doing; as, for instance, a woman being afraid to go to the barn, 
though she was come within a bow’s length of it, was immediately 
sent for by the demoniac, who said, ‘Unless that weak-faithed jade 
come, my fit will last longer.’ Some said, ‘ let us send for Mr. G. 
the demoniac answered, ‘ He is now upon the hay-cart,’ which was 
found to be true. On another occasion, he told what great distress 
there was in Ireland, and that England must pay the piper. Again, 
one going by him to a church meeting, was told by the demoniac 
in his fit, ‘ Thou needst not go to the said meeting, for I can tell 
thee the sermon that will be preached there;’ upon which he told 
him the text, and much of the sermon that was that day preached. 
Lastly, it is certified by two of the deponents, that * the demoniac 
could not certainly judge what the nature of his distemper was, 
because, when he was out of his fits, he could not tell how it was 
with him when he was in his fits.’ ” 

After citing many similar cases of individuals,* Dupotet adverts to 

* See, in particular, his account of the case of Martha Brossier, in 1599, of which the substance 
is thisAt the suggestion of the Bishop of Paris, the King ordered a committee, composed of 
the most eminent physicians, to examine and report on her case. These physicians, Messrs. 
Marescot, Ellain, Haulin, Riolan, and Duet, “were all men of scientific attainments and 
unimpeachable moral integrity.” “This report,” they say, “we present unto your majestie with 


WITCHCRAFT. 


107 


others in which numbers were concerned—as that of the nuns of the 
Ursuline Convent in the city of Loudun, in the days of Cardinal 
Bichelieu, who were all violently convulsed, and displayed extra¬ 
ordinary strength, and apparently supernatural knowledge, and 
that of the Convulsionnaires of St. Medard, who exhibited phenomena 
of the same description at the tomb of the Abbe Paris, and concern¬ 
ing the facts of which, Dr. Bertrand remarks :—“ They are so well 
attested—and it was so impossible for the observers to be deceived in 
regard to them—that if we venture to deny their reality, we must 
absolutely cease to look upon testimony in any case as a means of 
arriving at certainty.” Dupotet says:—“ How these effects were 
produced, whether by exciting the imagination or the fears, or 
otherwise affecting the nervous system of the afflicted, is not the 
question at issue; all we have to do with, is the simple fact that such 
phenomena really were developed, that the report of them is not 
false, that they were not feigned, but were veritable effects, depend¬ 
ing on the operation of causes which were not then, and may not yet 
be clearly understood. That they are referable to some fixed prin¬ 
ciple, however occult, may be inferred from the very circumstance 
of their constant uniformity; that is to say, these symptoms of pos¬ 
session have been alike in all parts of the world, although it is 
manifest there could be no collusion or contrivance between the 
distant parties who exhibited them, whereby any such agreement 
could be simulated.” 

Perhaps, if the subject was carefully studied in connection with 
the ideas and character of the time, and by the light of the spiritual 

a naked simplicitie, the faithful companion of truth, which you have desired from us in thi3 
matter. For the opinion that it proceedeth from sicknesse, we are clearly excluded from that, for 
the agitations and motions we observed therein, doe retain nothing of the nature of sicknesse, 
nay, not of those diseases wliereunto of the first sight, they might have resembled.” &c. “ Touching 
the point of counterfeiting,” they refer to the insensibility of her body to pain, which they severely 
tested—to “ the thin and slender foam that in her mad-fits we saw issue out of her mouth, which 
she had no means to be able to counterfeit;” and to her answering in Latin, Greek, and English, 
“and that upon the sudden.” Incidentally, they refer to “that which my Lord of St. Geneuefue, 
and many others, doe report, that this maide was lifted up into the ayre more than four foote 
above five or six strong persons that held her;” but “ at that wonder” they were not present. 
The report concludes with this solemn declaration:—“ By reason whereof, and considering, also, 
(under correction) that Saint Luke, who was both a physician and evangelist, describing the 
persons out of whose bodies our Lord and His Apostles did drive the devils, left unto us none 
other nor any greater signes than those which wee think wee have seene in this case, wee are the 
more induced, and almost confirmed to believe and to conclude as before (that this maide is a 
demoniacke), taking God for a witnesse of our conscience in this matter.—Made at Paris, this 3rd 
April, 1599.” 


108 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


manifestations of our own day, it might be found that spiritualism 
is a key to unlock many of these mysteries of the past; and if it should 
thus enable us to better understand some of the strange facts of 
human history, and of human nature, and so to steer clear of the 
mistaken judgments of our ancestors, while we avoid the dogmatic 
sadduceeism of our contemporaries, it will have done the world some 
service. 


CHAPTER XII. 

GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 

In all nature we may observe a contrasted duality. Positive and 
Negative Light and Darkness—Good and Evil: and the potency 
of an influence for good, when that influence is perverted, becomes, 
in general, the measure of its capacity for evil. Man on earth, stands 
midway between opposing forces; he may yield to his lower nature, 
and the promptings of evil within and around him, till he sinks to 
the lowest hells of godlessness and sensuality: or, he may become 
the willing recipient of influx from the highest heavens, and, by 
co-operating therewith, conquer the hells, and ascend the mount of 
transfiguration, at the summit of which he becomes transformed 
into the likeness of the angels." This life-struggle is the epic of 
humanity;—the “Holy War” that is ever waging between the 
armies of Immanuel and the hosts of Diabolos for the town of Man- 
soul. “ If the Lord be God follow him, but if Baal be God, then 
follow him;” is the challenge which down the long line of ages 
comes direct to every man. Yes! life is a battle and a march ; and 
well for man that it is so;—that he is endowed with a nature in 
discrete degree above the beasts of the field—and is constituted a 
moral agent a responsible being, with a capacity of progress 
bounded only by the Infinite Will. 

I think it was Queen Elizabeth, who wished her portrait to be 
painted without shadows;—forgetting that where there are no 
shadows, is just where there are no lights; and were the moral 
world all fights and no shadows, as some think they would like to 
have it, were there no difficulties to surmount, no perils to brave, 
no temptations to resist, no sacrifices to endure; where would be 
those virtues and qualities which ennoble and dignify our nature ? 



GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


109 


To apply these reflections to the subject of the last chapter, and to 
the question so often put—“ How is it that in intercourse with the 
spiritual world men are subjected to the deceits, temptations, and 
molestations of evil spirits ?” let me first put the question in a more 
general and comprehensive form, thus:—“How is it that men are 
subjected to the influence of evil spirits in the mortal body, and out 
of it?” I place the question on this broader basis to indicate the 
analogy which I believe exists between the spiritual and the natural 
world; and so put, I think the question cannot be satisfactorily 
answered without considering this farther and deeper one—“ What 
is the chief end and aim of our present life ? If it be “ happiness 
as the poet affirms; that is, present happiness; then, looking at 
the world as it is, it seems very like as if the design, had, in part 
miscarried; but if, as I believe, and as the facts of spiritualism teach, 
'our present life is designed chiefly as preparatory for a life be¬ 
yond; that its work is educational, that we form here the ground¬ 
work and basis of a character that will endure through the ages j)— 
then, it would appear, that these mingled and opposing influences 
are those best adapted for that development and discipline, that 
exercise of our spiritual nature and faculties which we need. In 
this view, not only the temporal calamities of life,—losses, sickness, 
bereavement; but also the spiritual evils and temptations to which 
we are subject, may be a means of quickening our spiritual life, and 
deepening our sense of its infinite issues, and of the need we have 
at all times to be careful, prayerful, truthful, and earnest; shapmg 
our course by the polar star of right, regardless of the ever-shifting 
and delusive lights pf a temporary expediency. No evil need be 
wholly so to us. ‘{There is a soul of goodness in things evil had 
we but patience to distil it out.” Of one thing I feel assured; 
spiritualism may be a means of calling out and intensifying the 
deepest and most interior principles of our nature;—of elevating us 
to a higher sphere of spiritual life; or, of sinking us lower in the 
godless deeps of an unregenerate humanity. 

In the last chapter, I exhibited, “the night side” of spiritualism: 
in this, I purpose to present it in a more attractive and winning 
guise ’ Guardian Angels !—Ministermg Spirits /—The theme suggests 
all genial and sunny thoughts, it lays deep hold of our affections, 
it comes to us like the recollections of childhood,—like the remem¬ 
brance of those loving mother’s eyes that beamed upon us in in¬ 
fancy. Yes! it is not a fossilized dogma, but an instinctive and 


110 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


vital belief,—a revelation written in the heart, and which shines 
luminous there, and not less so in the pages of the sacred volume. 
]Let me briefly advert to some of the proofs and illustrations of it 
which that volume contains. 

Without going so far as to aver with Swedenborg, that all angels 
were once men, (for in the boundless spiritual universe of God there 
may be beings in comparison with whom man is but a zoophyte) I 
may remark, that in the Bible the term Angel ( i.e . messenger, or one 
sent) is significant not of nature but of office. I. “Angel” and 
“Man” are often used indifferently as synonomous and interchange¬ 
able. II. Angels are seen as men. III. The angel who ap¬ 
peared to John the Revelator plainly asserted his humanity. IY. 
St. Paul, after dwelling upon the worthies of the Old Testament 
who had “ all died in faith” speaks of them as “ a great cloud of 
witnesses” encompassing us about. Y. The Bible clearly teaches 
the constant care and vigilance of the angels in our behalf. 
YI. And it gives us many illustrations of the fact that they are 
an “innumerable company,” employed on errands of mercy 
to men. The angels who met Jacob were so numerous, that 
he called the place where he met them Mahanaim or “the two 
hosts.” When the King of Syria sent “a great host” to seize 
Elisha; the prophet, speaking to his servant of their (to him) invisi¬ 
ble guardians ; comforted him with the assurance,—“ They that be 
with us are more than they that be with them;” and when the 
young man’s spiritual sight was opened, he beheld “the mountain, 
full of horses and chariots of fire” round about Elisha* The Bible 

I.—Haggai i. 13. Rev. ii 1. II.-Judges xiii. 6,21. Luke xxiv. 4, compare with John 
xx. 12. Rev. xxi. 17. III.—Gen. xix. 1, 10. Acts x. 3, 30. IV.—Rev xxii. 8, 9. V —Heb. 
xii. 1. VI.-Psalm xxxiv. 7. Psalm xci. 11, 12. Heb. i. 14. This verse sets forth clearly that 
ministration to the servants of God is a universal angelic mission— the established law of the 
celestial world. 

“It has been asserted by some writers, that, in the angelophanies both of the Old and New 
Testament, the angels assumed a material body for the purpose of making themselves visible to 
men. It is a sufficient reply to this- first, that there is not a shadow of evidence for it, and that 
you might just as well assume that human beings have no bodies except while you are looking at 
them; and, secondly, there is evidence enough against it in the facts of the case. The disappear¬ 
ance of the angel is as sudden as his appearance. What becomes of the assumed material body 
when he has done with it? According to this notion, when he disappears, he ought to leave a 
corpse behind him.”— Seabs’s Foregleams of Immortality. 

* The Rev. S. Noble observes on this text:--The prophet, doubtless, being the immediate 
agent of God, was in consociation with the angelic world, and in the midst, as to his spirit of 
guardian angels j but his servant did not see the angels themselves, but appearances representative 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


Ill 


not only asserts in general terms their vigilant constant care and 
universal ministry, but gives particular instances. Angels delivered 
Daniel from the Lions, the three Hebrews from the fire, and Peter 
from prison. The Reverend Richard Baxter, after replying to 
various objections to this doctrine of angelic ministration, and 
citing numerous scripture-illustrations of its truth; says:—“ Above 
two hundred and sixty times are angels mentioned in Scripture, and 
yet how little notice do we take of their help.” 

There is a class of passages which seem to clearly indicate 
that angel-ministry is, at least, one of the divinely appointed means 
by which the purposes of God are carried out, especially in answer 
to the true prayer of the heart, in submission to the divine will. 
Daniel says :—“ Whilst I was speaking and praying, even the man 
Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision from the beginning, being 
caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening 
oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O 
Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.” 
(Chap. rx). Again, of Cornelius, “ a devout man, who feared God, 
and prayed to God always,” it is written that on a certain occasion, 
he saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him, and saying:— 
“ Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before 
God;” and then telling him where he should go and what to do, &c., 
(Acts x). It was while Jesus was on the Mount of Olives praying, 
that “there appeared an angel unto him, strengthening him,” 
(Luke xxn). And when the erring disciple drew his sword in 
defence of Jesus, he was told by Him“ Put up thy sword, thinkest 
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently 
give me more than twelve legions of angels (Matt. xxvi). 

Another class of passages appear to favour the belief that a 
spiritual or celestial guardianship is specially attached to some indi¬ 
viduals, if not indeed to all. Thus, Jacob, speaking of his grandsons, 
exclaims:—“The angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the 
lads !”* In Ecclesiastes, we read“ Say not before the angel it was 

of the defence and protection, which, by the ministry of angels, surrounded him from the Lord.” 
The Rev. T. Timpson, remarks on the same passage:—“ Angelic spirits, as chariots and horses of 
lire, surround, not only the prophets of God, but even the weakest Christians; and, were our eyes 
opened by the Divine illumination and power, we should always perceive them encamped around 
us as our guardian defenders against the legions of our spiritual foes.” 

* I am aware that many divines consider that by “ the angel” in this and other texts, we are to 
understand God—the Second Person in the Trinity; but I think the fallacy of tliis has been 
sufficiently shown by Baxter and other writers. See Baxter’s Certainty of the World of 
Spirits, Chapter “ Concerning Angels.” 


112 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


an error.” Judith ( Apocrypha ) says:—“His angel hath been my 
keeper, both going here, and abiding there, and returning from 
thence.” And Jesus, speaking of little children, says:—“ Their 
angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” 
The prevalence of this belief in the Apostolic Christian Church, may 
be inferred from the fact, that, when Peter, after the angel had 
delivered him from prison, went to the disciples, they would not at 
first believe it was him; but said, “ It is his angel. This expression 
becomes still more significant, when we bear in mind that in the 
East to this day, a man’s guardian spirit is held to be a sort of 
double, or doppleganger of himself; and is styled “ his angel.” 

St. Augustine says of angels:—“ They watch over and guard us 
with great care and diligence, in all places and at all hours; assist¬ 
ing, and providing for our necessities with solicitude; they convey 
to thee, 0 Lord, our sighs and groans, and bring down to us the 
dearest blessings of thy grace.” 

The belief that a spiritual and celestial guardianship is exercised 
over mortals, is diffused beyond either Judaism or Christianity. As 
remarked by Archbishop Tillotson :—“ This doctrine of Angels, is 
not a peculiar doctrine of the Jewish or Christian Beligion; but the 
general doctrine of all religions that ever were, and therefore cannot 
be objected against by any but Atheists.” And the author of An 
Inquiry after Happiness , (published 1692) observes:—“ I cannot think 
that the Order, Beauty, and Greatness of the Creation, the fixt and 
constant returns of fruitful seasons, the filling men’s hearts with 
food and gladness, were the only testimonies God gave the Gentiles 
of himself and his care for Mankind. When I read in Daniel of the 
Princes of Grsecia and Persia, and find that Provinces were committed 
to Angels as the Viceroys and Lieutenants of God, I cannot think 
these devout and charitable spirits did with less zeal in their Pro¬ 
vinces labour to promote the honour of God, and the good of Man, 
than evil Spirits did the dishonour of the one, and ruin of the other : 
and unless the frequent appearances of Angels in the beginning had 
possessed men’s minds with a firm persuasion, that there was a 
constant commerce maintained between Heaven and Earth : and that 
Spirits very frequently did visibly engage themselves in the protec¬ 
tion and assistance of Men: I cannot as much as imagine what 
foundation there could be for the numerous impostures of Oracles, or 
upon what ground the custom of putting themselves under the 
patronage of some Tutelar Spirit, could have prevailed in the Pagan 


GUARDI AN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


113 


world. I do not therefore doubt, but that the Gentile World re¬ 
ceived very many good offices and advantages from good Angels, as 
well as suffered many mischiefs from evil ones : and I think I might 
with good probability, believe that every good heathen as well as 
Socrates had the assistance of a good spirit very frequently.” 

In Pantalogia, we read:—“ That there are such beings as we call 
angels, created by God, and subject to him as the Supreme Being; 
ministering to his divine providence in the government of the world 
by his appointment, and more especially attending the affairs of 
mankind—is a truth so fully attested by Scripture that it cannot be 
doubted. Nay, the existence of such invisible beings was generally 
acknowledged by the heathen, though under different appellations. 

.The belief, however, of middle intelligences influencing the 

affairs of the world, and serving as ministers or interpreters between 
God and man, is almost as extensive as the belief in a God; having 
seldom, so far as we know, been called in question by those who had 
any religion at all. 

Sir Thomas Browne believed in the charitable premonitions of 
angels. “I do think,” he says, “that (many mysteries as¬ 
cribed to our own inventions, have been the courteous revelations 
of spirits; for those noble essences in heaven, bear a friendly 
regard unto their fellow-natures on earth/ And again:—“ I could 
easily believe, that not only whole countries, but particular per¬ 
sons have their tutelary and guardian angels. It is not a new 
opinion of the Church of Borne, but an old one of Pythagoras and 
Plato. There is no heresy in it; and if not manifestly defined in 
Scripture, yet it is an opinion of a good and wholesome use in the 
course and actions of a man’s life; and would serve as an hypothesis 
to solve many doubts whereof common philosophy affords no solu¬ 
tion.”—( Beligio Medici). 

“ The nations of antiquity traced the origin of their religions, and 
even of their civilization, to the instructions of the gods, who, in 
their opinion, taught their ancestors as men teach children.”* In 
the earliest literature of classical antiquity, we find traces of this* 
belief. Hesiod speaks of— 

“Aerial spirits, by great Jove designed 
To be on earth the guardians of mankind.’* 

Homer tells us that— 


Encyclopedia Americana , Art. Revelations* 


I 



114 ' 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING STIRITS. 


“ In similitude of strangers, oft 
The gods, who can with ease all shapes assume, 

Repair to populous cities.” 

And both Homer and Virgil furnish instances of apparitions, 
warnings, and predictions of spirits to mortals. Aptjleius (De Deo 
Socratis, ch. iv.) asks:—“ Are men utterly banished from the com¬ 
munion of the immortals to this terrestrial Tartarus, without hope 
of the visit of a celestial shepherd to his mortal flock to control the 
unruly, to heal the afflicted, and to assist the needy P” And he tells 
us that while the “ middle powers between heaven and earth” are 
by the Greeks called daemons, “by others they are called vectores, 
or carriers.” “ By these,” as Plato tells us in The Banquet, “ all 
denunciations, oracles, and presages are directed.” Plato speaks of 
these daemons as:—“Beings who bring down into the world the 
oracular responses and good gifts of heaven, and who interpret and 
convey to the gods the prayers and sacrifices of men.” A peculiar 
tutelary daemon, according to Plato, is allotted to every man—an 
unseen, yet ever present witness of his thoughts and conduct. The 
Eoman men swore by their Genius or good spirit* Both Greeks 
and Eomans had their lares and lemures; the lemures were evil 
spirits who haunted the wicked and impious; the lares (familiares) 
were the spirits of virtuous men who were believed to exercise a 
special guardianship over households and families. At the feet of 
the image of the lar was usually placed the figure of a dog, to 
intimate vigilance. Plautus represents a lar as using these words:— 

“I am the family lar 

Of this house whence you see me coming out. 

>Tis many years now that I keep and guard 
This family; both father and grandsire 
Of him that has it now I aye protected.” 

The Eomans also had their Lares Urhani, who presided over cities, 
their Lares Marini, who presided over the sea, &c. Many of the 
Eoman urns were inscribed—“ To the Genius of the Eoman people.” 

* xhe Rev. H. Thompson remarks—“ The genii were deities of an inferior rank, the constant 
companions and guardians of men, capable of giving useful and prophetic impulses, acting as a 
sort of mediator between the gods and men. Some were supposed to be friendly, others hostile, 
and many believed one of each kind to be attached from his birth to every mortal: that of each 
individual was a shadow of himself.” 

The Koran assigns two angels to every man, one to record his good, and the other his evil 
actions; they are so merciful, that if an evil action has been done, it is not recorded till the man 
has slept; and if in that interval he repents, they place on the record that God has pardoned him. 
The doctrine of angels also occupies a prominent position in the Jewish Rabbinical and devotional 
books. 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


115 


Plutarch says:—“ One Supreme Providence governs the world; and 
genii participate with him in its administration. To these genii 
have been given, among different people, different names and dif¬ 
ferent honour.” 

The faith of Latin Christendom, especially in the middle ages, and, 
we may add, of the Eastern Churches also, does not appear to have 
differed very widely in this respect from that of Pagan Rome. Occu¬ 
pations and professions, cities and kingdoms, had each their patron- 
saint—their guardian and protecting spirit. And the Romish 
calendar, and in particular the annual celebration of the Festival 
of Angel-Guardians, may serve to show that this faith is not extinct 
in, or repudiated by, the Romish Church. That each individual has 
his guardian angel, has always been a favourite tenet of that church: 
thus, the Rev. Alban Butler saysAmongst other adorable 
dispensations of the Divine mercy in favour of men, it is not the 
least, that He has been pleased to establish a communion of spiritual 
commerce between us on earth and his holy angels, whose com¬ 
panions we hope one day to be in the kingdom of His glory. It is 
clear in the Holy Scriptures that the angels receive their very name 
from their office, in being employed by God in executing His com¬ 
missions in our favour. That particular angels are appointed by God, 
to watch over each among His servants, is an article of the Roman 
Catholic Church of which no ecclesiastical writer in the pale of the 
Church ever entertained the least doubt. That every man even among 
sinners and infidels, has a guardian angel, is the doctrine of the most 
eminent fathers, and is so strongly supported by the most sacred 
authority, that it cannot be called in question.” The same writer 
quotes St. Bernard, as saying:—Consider with how great respect, 
awe, and modesty, we ought to behave in the sight of the angels, lest 
we offend their holy eyes, and render ourselves unworthy of their com¬ 
pany. Woe to us, if they who would chase away our enemy be offend¬ 
ed by our negligence, and deprive us of their visits .... Above all, 
the angels of peace expect us to live in unity and peace.” Dr. George 
Townsend in his New Testament arranged in Historical and Chrono¬ 
logical Order , in a Note “ On the continued agency of Angels,” remarks 
on “this most favourite tenet of the ancient Church:”—“The early 
fathers regarded the ministry of angels as a consoling and beautiful 
doctrine, and so much at that time was it held in veneration, that the 
founders of Christianity cautioned their early converts against per¬ 
mitting their reverence to degenerate into adoration. We now go to 

i 2 


216 GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 

the opposite extreme, and seldom think of their existence; yet what 
is to be found in this belief, even if the Scriptures had not revealed 
it, which is contrary to reason ?” Again, in a Note to John xx. 12, 
he remarks:—“ The repeated appearance of angels, both in the old 
and new dispensations, seem designed to point out to us the near, 
though mysterious, connexion of the invisible state with that which 
we now inhabit.” This belief in Guardian Angels has been carried 
so far in the Romish Church, as, in the opinion of many Protes¬ 
tants, to become a species of idolatry; and there is no doubt that 
this is one af the chief reasons why in Protestant communities the 
doctrine is so generally looked upon with distrust, and even when it 
is believed in, is seldom prominently brought forward:—“ But surely,” 
says Tillotson, “we may believe they (the angels) do us good, with¬ 
out any obligation to pray to them, and may own them as the minis¬ 
ters of God’s providence, without making them the objects of our 
worship.” As Baxter remarks:—“ It is a doleful instance of the 
effect of a perverse kind of opposition to Popery, and running from 
one extreme to another, to note how little sense most Protestants 
show of the great benefits that we receive by angels. How seldom 
we hear them in public or private, give thanks to God for their 
ministry and help I and more seldom pray for it. When hear we any 
ministers teach believers what love and what thanks they owe to 
angels ? Whereas the excellency and holiness of their natures obli- 
geth us to love them, and their love and care of us, bespeaketh 
thankfulness; yea, we have teachers that would persuade men that 
this savoureth of Popery, and doth derogate from Christ; and yet if 
the people love and honour and maintain them, they take this to be 
no derogation from Christ; as if they were more amiable than 
angels, or Christ may not use the ministry of angels as well as 
theirs.” 

Many, however, of the most eminent Protestant Reformers and 
writers have maintained the truth of the doctrine in question. 
Luther, after quoting some Scripture passages which favour it, 
says:—“ Now whosoever thou art, that fearest the Lord, be of good 
courage; take thoil no care, neither be faint-hearted, nor make any 
doubt of the angels’ watching and protection; for most certainly 
they are about thee, and carry thee upon their hands. How, or in 
what manner it is done, take thou no heed; God says it, therefore it 
is most sure and certain.” Melancthon, believed that he had him¬ 
self seen an angel, by whose timely warning, communicated to him, 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 117 

his friend Grynoeus was saved from great peril. Bishop Hall, says 
with great humility:—‘fit is, I confess, my great sin, that I have 
filled mine eyes with other objects, and have been slack in returning 
praises to my God, for the continual assistance of those blessed and 
beneficent spirits. Oh! that the dust and clay were so washed out 
of mine eyes, that I might behold, together with the presence, the 
numbers, the beauties, and excellencies of those my ever present 
guardians.” In reply to the question “ Whether hath every one a 
particular angel to attend him ?” Bishop Beveridge answers—“ As 
for the wicked, it cannot be supposed that the good angels are for 
their company. But that those who are truly pious, have every one 
his angel always with him, is very probable.” 

Among Nonconformists, Dr. Owen says:—“ Great is the privilege, 
manifold are the blessings and benefits that we are made partakers 
of, by this ministry of angels.” Baxter exclaims:—“ Oh! if the 
eyes of Christians were but opened to see their glorious attendants, 
they would be more sensible of this privilege, and more thankful 
than now they be. Some common benefits, even common men may 
have by these angels, while they forfeit not their helps, but not those 
special benefits as the saints.” “ For my part,” he adds, “ I have 
had many deliverances so marvellous as convinceth me of the minis¬ 
try of angels in them.” John Wesley, in a sermon on Heb. i. 14, 
says :—“ May they (the angels) not also minister to us with respect 
to our bodies in a thousand ways which we do not understand ? 
They may prevent our falling into many dangers, which we are not 
sensible of, and may deliver us out of many others, though we know 
not whence our deliverance comes. How many times have we been 
strangely and uuaccountably preserved in sudden and dangerous 
falls; and it is well if we did not impute that preservation to chance* 
or to our own wisdom or strength. Not so: God, perhaps, gave His 
angels charge over us, and in their hands they bore us< up. Indeed, 
men of the world will always impute such deliverances to accidents 
or second causes. To these possibly some of them might have im¬ 
puted Daniel’s preservation in the lion’s den. But he himself as¬ 
cribes it to the true cause: ‘ My God hath sent His angel, and hath 
shut the mouths of the lions.’—Daniel vi. 22. 

“ When a violent disease, supposed incurable, is totally and sud¬ 
denly removed, it is by no means improbable that this is effected 
by the ministry of an angel. And perhaps if is owing to the same 
cause that a remedy is unaccountably suggested, either to the sick 


118 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


person or some one attending upon him, by which he is entirely 
cured. 

“ It seems, what are usually called divine dreams, may frequently 
be ascribed to angels. We have a remarkable instance of this kind 
related, by one who will hardly be called an enthusiast, for he was a 
heathen, a philosopher, and an emperor; I mean Marcus Antoninus. 
In his meditations he solemnly thanks God for revealing to him 
when he was at Cajeta, in a dream, what totally cured the bloody 
flux, which none of his physicians were able to heal. And why may 
we not suppose that God gave him this notice by the ministry of an 
angel P 

“ And how often does God deliver us from evil men by the ministry 
of angels; overturning whatever their rage, or malice, or subtilty 
had plotted against us ! These are about their beds, and about their 
path, and privy to all their dark designs; and many of them un¬ 
doubtedly they have brought to nought, by means that we think 
not of. They can check them in their mad career by bereaving them 
of courage or strength; by striking faintness through their loins, 
or turning their wisdom into foolishness. Sometimes they bring to 
light the hidden things of darkness, and show us the traps laid for 
our feet. In these and various other ways they hew the snares of 
the ungodly to pieces.” 

Charles Wesley sings :— 

“ Angels, where’er we go, attend 
Our steps, whate’er betide. 

With watchful care their charge defend. 

And evil turn aside. 

** Their instrumental aid unknown. 

They day and night supply, 

And free from fear we lay us down, 

Though Satan’s host be nigh. 

“ Our lives the holy angels keep 
Prom every hostile power; 

And unconcerned we sweetly sleep. 

As Adam in his bower.” 

And in a similar strain Dr. Watts sings:— 

“ He bids his angels pitch their tent3 
Round where his children dwell j 

What ills their heavenly care prevents 
No earthly tongue can tell.” 

Dr. Dwight, of America, says :—“ They (the angels) do not disdain 
nor grudge to minister to the wants and to the relief, to the instruc-. 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


119 


tion and the comfort of men; who compared with them, are only 
worms of the dust.” 

Another American divine, the Rev. W. M. Fernald in his work, 
God in His Providences, has the following beautiful reflections 
“ The great truth of spiritual and angelic agency must be admitted 
as conspicuous. It occupies a very prominent part in the foreground 
of the Christian revelation, and the providence of God in this respect 
is immense. Ho mind can conceive, or imagination form an ade¬ 
quate idea of the constant, universal, complicated agency of those 
spiritual beings, in the care and government of this world. They 
pome in moments of danger when we see them not, and prompt the 
thoughts to safety and to peace; they come in sorrow, to infuse the 
balm of comfort and the strength of cheerfulness into the mind; 
they come in temptation, to avert the soul from its purposes of 
wickedness; they stand by the couch of sickness and the bed of 
death, and, having themselves passed through the same scenes of 
mortality, they minister to every human frailty and weakness, and 
shed the light and strength of heaven through the soul ready to 
despair. Oh! could we but realize it! could we but see all the 
reality, and the parting circumstance of the dying bed, how would 
death be robbed of its sting, and the grave of its victory! . . . They 
stimulate the reformer to his hard but glorious task, and lead him 
by a way that he knows not, and, seeing the end from the beginning, 
sustain him in his trials and carry him onward in his triumphs. 
We are not alone in this mighty movement of a progressing world. 
Hosts of purified spirits, who have passed through the same, battles 
with the wrong, and stood out for freedom and truth, are looking 
down upon our efforts, and assisting us in the work they love; 
thus also do the Scriptures" assure us of ‘a great cloud of wit¬ 
nesses.’ The strength of every good cause has more in it of heaven 
than of earth. There is more of Peace, Freedom, Temperance, and 
the advocates of a better world and church, among the guardians 
of our world in Heaven, than is to be found on earth. Every 
solitary thinker, every lonely man and woman, who, in retirement, 
or in the midst of persecution, is engaged in the work of human 
improvement, is, after all, not alone, but in a glorious company 
strong and bright for the same great movement. And in this 
respect, when we are tempted to despair, or in weakness and dis¬ 
couragement would look round upon the fearful odds against us, 
we may say as Elisha said, when suddenly surrounded with the 


120 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


hosts of the Syrian army, * Fear thon not, for they that be with ns 
are more than they that be with them.” 

“ I confess myself surprised (says the same writer) when I look 
over the ancient records of the Hebrew and Christian faith, and 
see the almost endless recognition of spiritual and angelic agency, 
that no more account of it is made by those who profess to be 
guided by them. It is all, or nearly all, in our day, a theology of 
the immediate agency of the Deity, while in truth scarcely any 
can form a worthy conception of what the Deity in his great infinity 
is, or how He personally operates: while here, in the agency of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and the angels who are his ministers, is a familiar, 
interesting, definite theology, dear to every human heart, and such 
as the understanding can intelligibly receive.” \ 

The Rev. J. Clowes, M. A., in a work (published 1814) On Mediums; 
their Divine Origin and Important Uses; says:—“As on the one 
part the blessed angels are in close connection with their Father in 
Heaven, so on the other part are they in connection also with men 
on earth, agreeable to the continual testimony of the sacred Scrip¬ 
tures throughout.” Arguing the question on both scriptural and 
rational grounds, he says:—“We conclude, therefore, that in this 
instance the testimony of revelation is wonderfully confirmed by the 
documents of the general experience of the whole human race.” He 
considers it “ Evident, even to demonstration, that the Angelic 
Heaven is an appointed medium of communication and conjunction 
between God and man, and that man is, therefore, indebted to this 
medium, under God, for all the means which he possesses of im¬ 
proving and perfecting his life, whether it be spiritual or natural.” 
And while he considers “ It is the supreme delight of these blessed 
beings to connect themselves with the interiors of the human soul, 
and to enter thus into a state of the closest communication and most 
intimate fellowship with man;” yet, even “ in our temporal concerns, 
there is every reason to believe, and to enjoy consolation in believing, 
that we are never for a moment left destitute of their invisible aid, 

guidance, and defence.,*The doctrine of angelic mediation is not 

speculative only, but practical; not calculated merely to amuse the 
understanding, but to purify and amend the heart and life, by stimu¬ 
lating to the love and the practice of evangelical virtue, and by thus 
elevating the soul to a closer and purer conjunction with the Almighty. 
For it exalts our ideas of the Divine mercy and providence, it brings 
Heaven nearer to us, and renders us more sensible of the influences 



GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


121 


of its blessed inhabitants, by convincing us of their kind intentions 
towards us, and of the affectionate assiduity by which they would 
promote our salvation. It diminishes thus the power of that seduction 
by which the world and our passions would deceive and destroy 
us.” i&c. 

The Rev. 0. H. Spurgeon, in a sermon in November, 1858, re¬ 
marked :—“ We talk of Heaven as a land very far off, but close it is, 
and who knows but what the spirits of the just are here to-night ?” 
In another sermon he quotes approvingly the line— 

“ Milli ons of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen,” 

and adds:—“ At all times they are round about us—not more by night 
than by day.” 

Another eminent Baptist Minister, the Rev. W. Landels, of 
Regent’s Park Chapel, lately preached a sermon on Ministering 
Spirits, (which has been printed and widely circulated.) In this 
sermon, he says of the angels :—“ Their ministry is not a matter 
of inference chiefly, but of direct and unmistakable testimony. The 
Scriptures distinctly and positively affirm that holy angels are our 
attendants," and perform for us various services.” These services he 
enumerates with illustrative citations from Scripture. Again, after 
quoting texts in proof that the Bible sanctions the belief in “ minis¬ 
tering spirits,” he says'“ The testimony of these passages is not to 
be set aside by the fancy to which some so tenaciously cling, that 
they relate exclusively to the past; for they make no mention of one 
time more than another. They describe the privileges of the 
righteous, without reference to time, and throughout every age of 
the Church’s history. Moreover, it should be remembered by those 
who are so ready to refer them to the past, that the present dis¬ 
pensation is not distinguished from those which preceded it by less, 
but by greater privileges. It cannot be denied that we need the 
aid of unseen beings as much now as ever—that their protection, 
their succour, their gentle influences, the consolation which they 
minister, are as much required as at any former age. And if equally 
needed, surely in an age of greater privilege we are not to suppose 
that their services have been withdrawn. To me, the doctrine of 
ministering spirits, next to the revelation of Cod’s Fatherly character, 
is one of the most comforting which the Bible contains; and to 
restore and confirm the Church’s belief in it, ^ and teach her what it 
implies, is to render her most valuable service.” 


122 


GUARDIAN ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS. 


These are testimonies of men whose fame is in all the churches; 
and they may serve to show that Spiritualism is not essentially 
a new doctrine, and though it may' be fashionable just now, to 
affect a contempt for it as a vulgar superstition, and thus save 
the expenditure of argument which might not be readily forth¬ 
coming ; yet, with all due respect to modern philosophers, I venture 
to think that the authority of Scripture, the faith of ages, and the 
deliberately expressed opinion of thoughtful men, whose views, apart 
from this question at least, have weight with the Christian world, 
should lead them to consider that possibly the subject may have 
some claims to a candid and serious consideration. 

I am aware that some of the modes of'Spiritual intercourse 
of our day, were foreign to the thought of, and were indeed un¬ 
known to, many of the illustrious men whose testimonies I have 
cited; but they admit the principle of continued angelic and spiritual 
ministrations; and where this is conceded, the question, whether or 
no it takes place in the ways that spiritualists allege, is simply 
a question of fact, to be determined by the evidence presented. 
But even on the a priori ground, it may surely be expected that 
the modes should vary in different ages to meet men’s varying 
needs; and it would appear from their actual effects that the cur¬ 
rent spiritual manifestations are peculiarly adapted to meet the wide¬ 
spread materialism of the present time. 

I have sought in this chapter to illustrate the belief in guardian 
angels and ministering spirits, rather than to demonstrate its truth: 
the latter attempt, indeed, could not have been made, without first 
proving the truth of other facts and beliefs upon which it is 
dependent, and which is here assumed; but, in the words of a 
distinguished writer on philosophy, Dr. George Moore, author of 

the Use of the Body in Relation to the Mind, it may be said:_ 

“The philosophy which fails to find her desired substitute for 
religion, also fails to prove that there is any absurdity in believing 
in these ministrations of angels which Christianity intimates,” and 
by which, “ worlds upon worlds of varied intelligences are bound 
together in the community of necessity and existence.” It is true 
that it may be easy to excite a smile at some of the concomitants 
with which this belief is at times associated, though even these are 
often only the confounding of a truth with the symbol by which it is 
-expressed; but, apart from these accidental associations, I see no 
absurdity in a faith which has proved a source of rest and strength, 


COUNT ZINZENDORF AND THE UNITED BRETHREN. 123 

of comfort and hope to men in every age; which has been the inspi¬ 
ration of genius, and is consecrated by the best feelings of the heart. 

The belief in guardian angels and ministering spirits is not and 
cannot become a barren creed if we think upon it, and allow it to 
work out its natural results. The thought that holy angels surround 
us, that we are watched by pure and loving eyes, that those whose 
memories we cherish and revere are still with us, interesting them¬ 
selves in our welfare—guarding us from evil, and directing and 
strengthening us in the path of duty, surely cannot fail to exercise 
upon us an influence of the most salutary kind. And if it be good 
for us to believe in angelic ministry, it must be still better to have 
such evidence of its truth that we may be said to know it. May we strive 
after that holiness which alone can render us meet companions of the 

“Bright ministers of God and grace!” 

“ 0 Everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the 
services of angels and men in a wonderful order; mercifully grant, 
that as thy holy Angels always do thee service in Heaven, so by thy 
appointment they may succour and defend us on earth; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord.”* 


CHAPTER XIII. 

COUNT ZINZENDORF AND THE UNITED BRETHREN. 

The Rev. W. Eishbough, an American divine, author of The Macro¬ 
cosm, (a work which deserves to be better known in this country,) 
makes the following general but significant statement, the truth of 
which I propose to illustrate in this and subsequent chapters:— 
« Notwithstanding the universal opposition of the various Christian 
sects, as bodies, to the doctrine of an existing inter-communication 
between mortals and the spirits of the departed, perhaps every one 
of those sects may be confronted with the testimonies of distinguished 
individuals of its own members in favour of this very doctrine. It is 
well known that the Catholic Church has never disputed this doc¬ 
trine, however she may discountenance the current spiritual mani¬ 
festations on the ground of their legitimacy. This doctrine was never 
formally repudiated by any Protestant sect, or, so far as we know, 

* 2 he Book of Common Prayer. “ Collect. St. Michael and all Angels.” 



124 


COUNT ZINZENDORF 


directly discountenanced in any of the written creeds or confessions 
of faith which have served as charts to the numerous religious bodies 
which have sprung up since the Reformation.” One of the churches 
whose character and history is specially calculated to call forth inte¬ 
rest and sympathy, especially among all, of whatever denomination, 
who profess the Reformed Faith,—the Church of United Brethren, 
or Moravians, is a striking instance of the truth of this remark. 

Mr. Wilberforce, in his well-known work on Christianity, des¬ 
cribes the Brethren as :—“ A Body of Christians, who have, perhaps, 
excelled all mankind in solid and unequivocal proofs of the love of 
Christ, and of the most ardent, and active, and patient zeal in his 
service. It is a zeal tempered with prudence, softened with meek¬ 
ness, soberly aiming at great ends, by the gradual operation of well- 
adapted means, supported by a courage which no danger can intimi¬ 
date, and a quiet constancy which no hardships can exhaust.” 

The ancestors of the United Brethren had been a church of martyrs 
for many ages before the Reformation. They gave their testimony 
against the evils and corruptions of the Church, and maintained it 
faithfully even unto death. They performed their church worship in 
their own tongue, and never gave the Bible out of their own hands. 
Their Church lays claim to Apostolical succession, and certainly 
exhibits many Apostolic virtues; and their history proves that they 
have retained many of the Apostolic gifts. Among their confessors 
and martyrs they reckon John Huss, and Jerome of Prague. So 
great was their reverence for the Scriptures, that when in the 
fifteenth century, the bloody hand of persecution struck at them to 
exterminate them, they kindled midnight fires in the thickest forests, 
and assembled around them to read the Word; and in the deep and 
solemn silence offer up their heart-felt prayers to God. 

About the year 1470, they availed themselves of the newly dis¬ 
covered art of printing, to publish in the Bohemian language a 
translation of the whole Bible; Wickliffe’s excepted—the first trans¬ 
lation of it that we have upon record into any European tongue. 

In the seventeenth century, the United Brethren had in their 
midst a succession of persons who had experience in ecstasy, visions, 
prophecies, and revelations. An account of these was published by 
one of their Bishops, John Amos Comenius, in 1659, with a continu¬ 
ation in 1663. The revelations were given through them while in a 
state of ecstasy, they being only the passive organs of utterance to a 
superior power; their own minds being unconscious, and their bodies 


AND THE UNITED BRETHREN. 


125 


in involuntary agitation. Comenius says :—“ I hope it is clear, that 
not one of us who are admirers of these prophecies, and have ad¬ 
mitted them to be extraordinary divine admonitions, have used 
precipitancy or lightness; but because being convinced of the truth 
of the things, and the interposition of divine signs, we have seen 
that these things were done by the help of good spirits.” Juried, in 
the preface to his Accomplishment of the Prophecies , remarks:—“ I 
found something surprising and extraordinary in the prophecies of 
Cotterus, Christina, and Dabricius. Cotterus, the first of the three, 
is great and magnific; the images of his visions have so much 
majesty and grandeur, that those of the antient prophets have 
hardly more. They are also admirably laid together, everything 
supports itself, and one part does not contradict another. I cannot 
conceive how a simple artisan could have imagined such great things 
without divine assistance. The two years of the prophecy of Chris¬ 
tina, are, in my judgment, a train of as great miracles as have ever 
been since the Apostles’ days, and even the life of the greatest pro¬ 
phets hath nothing in it more miraculous than what happened to 
that maid. Drabicius hath also his heights and excellencies, but for 
the most part he is obscure.” One of these miracles in the case of 
Christina Poniatowsky, was her sudden recovering, in one of her 
ecstasies, from a state of lameness, such that for six weeks she had 
been unable to stand; another was her revival from so deep a state 
of trance, or suspended animation, that the witnesses speak of it as 
positively resurrection from a state of death. She is said by Come¬ 
nius to have lived an innocent and pious life, to have been of a cheer¬ 
ful disposition, and very far removed from superstition. In her 
trance-discourses, the Bishop says that she so aptly accommodated 
passages of Scripture to the subject treated of, that the most expe¬ 
rienced theologian could scarcely have done it better. The Brethren 
were so divided concerning her, that at a meeting in 1629, silence 
was enjoined respecting the matter, lest the church should be rent 
by the controversy. Cotterus and Dabricius, were also pious members 
of the Church; the latter was one of its ministers, and died a martyr. 
“ Poor Dabricius,” says an historian of the Brethren, “ was taken 
up; and after his right hand had been cut off, burnt together with 
his prophecies.” 

In the year 1722, the Church of the Brethren was raised, as it 
were from the dead, by a persecution intended to crush its last 
remnant in Bohemia. Some families flying from thence, found 


126 


COUNT ZINZENDORF 


refuge on the estates of Count Zinzendorf, in Lusatia, where they 
built a humble village called Hernhut, (signifying the Watch of the 
Lord) which soon became the principal settlement of the Brethren. 
Their numbers gradually increased, and they have now various 
small congregations throughout Germany, as well as in Denmark* 
Sweden, Russia, Holland, North America, and Great Britain. 
They were the first Protestant Church to send out Missionaries to 
the heathen, and they have continued to be emphatically the Mis¬ 
sionary Church. Such was the devotedness of their first Mission¬ 
aries, that they had determined to sell themselves for slaves in order 
that they might have an opportunity of preaching the Gospel to the 
Africans, should they find no other way to accomplish their purpose. 
In the same spirit, one of their first Missionaries to Greenland 
writes:—“ There was no need of much time nor expense for our 
equipment. The congregation consisted chiefly of poor exiles who 
had not much to give, and we ourselves had nothing but the clothes 
on our backs.” These Missionaries to Greenland travelled to Co¬ 
penhagen on foot, and when told that in Greenland they could get 
no timber with which to build themselves a house, “then,” said 
they, “ we will dig a hole in the earth and lodge there.” 

Such were the men among whom occurred the remarkable manifes¬ 
tations I am about to relate. As their historian tells us :—“ The 
congregation, of which the Church then consisted, had for its germ 
the choice of Bohemia and Moravia. A great part of them were 
witnesses who had resisted even to blood, and even to tortures; who 
had seen with joy the spoiling of their goods, and in whom the 
spirit of their ancestors lived again. With them were united other 
Christians, who had been previously attached to other Protestant 
Churches, but who had all felt the need of a more vital religion, and 
of a closer spiritual union.” Of Count Zinzendorf, who subsequently 
joined them, and became their bishop, and devoted his life and 
fortune to the service of the Brethren and the Church, he remarks, 
that never, perhaps, did a candidate for the sacred ministry undergo, 
or challenge a more severe examination. 

The work from which our examples are taken, is the Rev. A. Bost’s 
History of the Church of the Brethren (the author, I believe, is not a 
member of the Brethren’s Communion). He remarks :—“ As to the 
truth of the facts, I think that my authorities may be accounted most 
respectable. Not to mention that the German nation in general, to 
which I am indebted for them, has an established character for 


AND THE UNITED BRETHREN. 


12 ? 


honesty and solidity; the Moravian Brethren in particular, and their 
writers, share the same character in the highest degree; and their 
writings possess every quality that can entitle them to it.” 

In a general description of the Brethren’s Church, (1740) it is stated 
very simply that—“ In respect to church matters, there are occa¬ 
sionally observed Apostolic graces, miracles, gifts of seers, 8fc. They 
are received in a child-like spirit, and there the matter ends.” Again, 
in the same paper, Zinzendorf declares:—“ I owe this testimony to 
our beloved Church, that Apostolic powers are there manifested. 
We have had undeniable proofs thereof in the unequivocal discovery 
of things, persons, and circumstances which could not, humanly, 
have been discovered: —in the healing of maladies in themselves incur¬ 
able—such as cancers, consumptions when the patient was in the 
agonies of death, &c., all by means of prayer, or of a single word. 
We have seen hypocrites publicly unmasked, without anything that 
was the occasion externally;—visible signs, both of condemnation 
and also of recovery, in men who had offended with respect to the 
Church;—we have seen wild beasts stopped at the moment of their 
attack, by the word of the Lord, without any external aid, and without 
themselves having received any hurt, &c.” Again, in 1730:—“At this 
juncture, various supernatural gifts were manifested in the Church, 
and miraculous cures were wrought. The Brethren and the Sisters 
believed, in a child-like spirit, what the Saviour had said respecting 
the efficacy of prayer; and when any object strongly interested them, 
they used to speak to Him about it, and to trust in Him as capable 
of all good: then it was done unto them according to their faith.” 
The Count —** did not wish the Brethren and Sisters to make too 
much noise about these matters, and regard them as extraordinary; 
but when, for example, a brother was cured of any disease, even of 
the worst kind, by a single word or some prayer, he viewed this as a 
very simple matter; calling to mind, even that saying of Scripture, 
that 1 signs were not for those who believe, but for those who believe 
not.’” 

David Nitschman, one of the Brethren, wrote an account of his 
life, and “ of the miraculous escape which the Lord vouchsafed to 
him.” From this narrative I extract the following passage:—“ When 
all this investigation was over, they shut us up again all together, 
chained two and two—I, however, was ironed apart. One Thursday 
evening, I told my brethren that I had thoughts of leaving them 
that night: ‘ And I, too,’ instantly added David Schneider,—‘ I mean 


128 


COUNT ZINZENDOKF 


to go with you.’ We had to wait till eleven. Not knowing how X 
should get rid of my irons, I laid my hand upon the padlock which 
fastened them, to try and open it with a knife ; and, behold it was 
opened! I began to weep for joy, and I said to Schneider, ‘Now I 
see that it is the will of God that we should go.’ We removed the 
irons from our feet, we took leave of the other Brethren in profound 
silence, and crossed the court to see if we could find a ladder. I 
went as far as the principal passage, which was secured by two 
doors; and I found the first opened, and the second also. This was 
a second sign to us that we were to go. Being once out of the 
castle, we hung our irons on the wall, and we crossed the garden 
to reach my dwelling, where we waited awhile, that I might tell 
my wife how she should proceed when I sent some one to fetch 
her.” 

There are some persons who will regard the circumstances of this 
deliverance—the sudden purpose of escaping expressed by both 
prisoners before the means of escape were known—the deliverance 
from irons without visible agency—and the finding the two prison 
doors open, as mere coincidences; and doubtless the earthquake, the 
loosening of the prisoners’ bands, and the opening of the prison 
doors in the case of Paul and Sila3, would admit of the same easy 
explanation at their hands. The Brethren, like the Apostles, 
thought otherwise; they regarded it as a manifestation of super¬ 
natural power in their behalf, and gave praise unto 1 God. 

A considerable portion of the spiritual experience of the Brethren 
consisted in previsions, presentiments, and spiritual impressions and 
impulses, and these were faithfully recorded and acted upon by them, 
with great attendant blessing. We can give only one or two in¬ 
stances of each of these. When Zinzendorf was about to take, in 
his circumstances, the extraordinary step of entering into holy 
orders, he conferred with his wife on the subject, “who, with 
astonishing distinctness, showed and foretold him all that happened 
in consequence.” On one occasion, upon hearing of an order of 
banishment, Zinzendorf declared that he should not be able to return 
to settle at Hernhut for ten years. Through interest in his behalf he 
was enabled at the end of a year to return for a short time, but 
through new intrigues was soon again compelled to depart under an 
order of banishment for life. This order was taken off at the end of 
ten years, when the Count returned and settled at Hernhut as pre¬ 
dicted* The following account is given of a premonition or presenti- 


AND THE UNITED BRETHREN. 


129 


ment which occurred to Zinzendorf, and of the event which proved 
that presentiment to be well grounded:— 

“In the course of this same journey, a very remarkable circum¬ 
stance befel himhaving stayed, one day, with a Count of his ac¬ 
quaintance, and having, according to custom, continued the conversa¬ 
tion very far on in the night, he prepared to retire to rest; but a 
singular presentiment impelled him instantly to continue his jour¬ 
ney. Having thereupon consulted the Lord in prayer, he was con¬ 
firmed in this feeling; he took his leave of the Count, had his horses 
put to, and had scarcely set out, when the ceiling of the room where 
he was to have slept, fell in! The Count, in whose house this took 
place, retained a deep impression of the occurrence: and Spangen- 
berg, who relates the fact, had himself seen both the individual and 
the room.” 

Again, one of their first Missionaries, Leonard Dober, when the 
perils of his missionary project were pointed out to him, and he was 
told terrible stories of the cruelty of the Cannibals, and of their ran¬ 
cour against Europeans, " used to answer that he himself was as¬ 
tonished when he thought upon his project; but that he could not 
help following the impulse which he felt, and obeying therein the 
will of God.” 

But, perhaps, the most singular custom among the Brethren—one 
clearly evincing their belief in Spiritual and Divine guidance, was 

to refer the decision of doubtful cases, where opinions were 
divided, to the lot , or rather, under this title, to the Lord himself.” 
Eor this practice they found Apostolical warrant and precedent in 
the Hew Testament. (Acts i., 24-26). It is to be remarked, however, 
that the decision of the lot was not enforced upon any one, for in¬ 
stance, in the case of a person so elected to any office, in opposition 
to his conscientious conviction to the contrary. Again, the lot was 
always required to be used publicly and by those who bore office in 
the Church, and by common agreement. It was never used when 
the subject was clearly decided in Scripture, or by a fixed rule in the 
Church, or when the will of God was distinctly marked out by 
Divine Providence; and never except as a religious act, and with all 
seriousness and due solemnity of preparation. 

If, as the Rev. J. B. Marsden asserts, the Brethren attach no infal¬ 
libility to the use of the lot, this would seem to indicate their belief 
that the Lord operates mediately by ministering and sometimes fal¬ 
lible spiritual agency, as they would never have attributed 

K 


even 


130 


COUNT ZINZENDORF 


a possible fallibility to the immediate and direct guidance of the 
Lord himself. 

Sometimes, when a subject appeared to the Brethren more than 
ordinarily doubtful, and they had referred it to the lot a second, and 
even a third time, the original decision was again and again con¬ 
firmed, and the blessing that followed in abiding by it, even when it 
was that which least commended itself to the natural judgment, was 
most marked and striking; for instances of this, I must refer the 
reader to the History before quoted. 

Ministers and bishops in the Church were appointed by lot— 
Zinzendorf himself, was determined by lot in entering into holy 
orders. The same course was pursued by the Brethren in sending 
forth their first Missionaries. When Leonard Dober resigned the 
office of general elder, at a synodal conference held in London, 1740, 
it was unanimously resolved to abolish the office altogether; and 
instead of depending on the wisdom of a fellow-man, to seek direc¬ 
tion from the great Head of the Church, by the use of the lot, in all 
cases in which the Scriptures and the leadings of Providence did not 
furnish a clear rule of action. The very existence of the Brethren as 
a separate community, was at one time put to the decision of the lot. 
The Count, at the time referred to, was desirous that the Church of 
the Brethren should blend with the Lutheran Church. Others, on 
the contrary, urged that their existing constitution and discipline 
had been attended with such a blessing that they could not abandon 
them;—ultimately “ The Church agreed to refer with him, the deci¬ 
sion of this so solemn question to the Lord himself, by the method 
of the lot. Thus the Church of the Brethren and all its future 
destinies—its continuation or its extinction, were to depend on a 
yes or no that should issue from the urn. 

“ According to the ancient custom of the Brethren, they made 
two lots; on the first of which they wrote— 4 To them that are with¬ 
out law, be as if you were without law; being not without law, 
since you are under the law to Christ; but in order to gain them 
that are without law.’ The other was,—‘ Brethren, stand fast, and 
hold the traditions which ye have been taught.’ The Church prayed 
that the Lord would graciously reveal to his own the purposes of 
his wisdom; and we may suppose with what reverential expecta¬ 
tion they saw a child, not four years old, bring out one of these 

two lots .‘Brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which 

ye have been taught!’—Such was the Lord’s decision. 



AND THE UNITED BRETHREN. 


131 


“ Then, as one soul, and with a heart penetrated with thanks to 
God, the Brethren renewed in a body, their covenant with the 
Lord; and cordially promised him to abide from that time forth, 
without variation, in the same ecclesiastical constitution, boldly to 
employ themselves in the work of Christ; and to proclaim his 
Gospel throughout the world, and to all the nations to whom he 
should send them. The Count himself was charged with addressing 
the Church in a discourse upon the subject; and he did so with ex¬ 
traordinary power and copiousness.” 

The Brethren have no rigidly defined creed, and object to being 
considered a sect. They have little esteem for speculative theology, 
their chief aim being to embody the principles of the Gospel in 
social organization and daily life. Many of their customs seem 
the natural outgrowth of a genuine Christian Spiritualist faith. 
They do not regard the termination of the present life as an 
evil, but as an entrance upon an eternal state of bliss to the sincere 
disciples of Christ; hence, they discountenance all outward appear¬ 
ance of mourning. The decease of a brother or sister, is announced 
to the community by solemn music. At Easter, they have a 
special service, expressive of their joyful assurance of immortality, 
and in commemoration of those who during the past year have 
“gone home to the Lord;” an expression they often use to signify 
the departure of a brother or sister into the spiritual world. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

GEORGE EOX AND THE SOCIETY OE ERIENDS. 

Macaulay, in the fourth volume of his History of England, has 
given us his estimate of George Eox, the founder of the church 
known as the Society of Friends, popularly called “ Quakers.”* 
Our accomplished historian can see in Fox, only a very illiterate 
ma n, “ wandering from place to place, teaching strange theology, 
shaking like an aspen leaf in his paroxysms of fanatical excitement, 

* The name “ Quakers” was first applied to Eox derisively by a certain Justice Bennett, because 
on one occasion, when examined before him, Eox bade him“ tremble and quake before the power of 
the Lord.” The nickname soon became popular, chiefly because Fox and his disciples were 
sometimes seized with a trembling or quaking when praying or preaching “from the spirit.” 

K 2 



132 


GEOfiGE POX. 


forcing his way into churches, which he nicknamed steeple- 
houses, interrupting prayers and sermons with clamour and 
scurrility, and pestering rectors and justices with epistles much 
resembling burlesques of those sublime odes in which the Hebrew 
prophets foretold the calamities of Babylon and Tyre.” 

Moreover, on the same showing, it appears, that Fox eschewed 
fashionable etiquette in dress, language, and deportment, in a way 
• ‘ shocking to good tastehe wore leather breeches; held “ that it 
was falsehood and adulation to use the second person plural instead 
of the second person singular;” “would not touch his hat to the 
greatest of mankind,”—worse than all, he laid claim “ that the truth 
had been communicated to him by direct inspiration from Heaven,” 
and had even “ for more than forty years since (1691) begun to see 
visions and cast out devils.” 

Of course, a decorous, well-behaved Whig Historian, with a due 
sense of the proprieties, loving safe and moderate courses, delighting 
in rounded sentences and ornate periods, and proud of belonging to 
the guild of literary men, could not be expected to have any sympathy 
with a vagrant unlettered shoemaker, full of strange ways and 
wild talk; he can “ see no reason for placing him, morally or intel¬ 
lectually, above Ludowick Muggleton, or Joanna Southcote.” 

But a greater writer of our time than Macaulay—one accustomed 
to observe men and not the mere outsides of them—Thomas Carlyle; 
has also taken measure of this same unlettered cordwainer, but by 
another standard than that of conventional propriety, and finds him 
altogether a different sort of person. He tells us that:—“ This man 
was one of those, to whom under ruder, or purer forms, the Divine 
Idea of the Universe is pleased to manifest itself; and across all the 
hulls of ignorance and earthly degradation, shine through, in un¬ 
speakable awfulness, unspeakable beauty, on their souls: who, there¬ 
fore are rightly accounted Prophets, God-possessed; or even Gods, 
as in some periods it has chanced . . . Mountains of encumbrance, 
higher than Etna, had been heaped on that spirit; but it was a 
spirit, and would not lie buried there. Through long days and nights 
of agony, it struggled, and wrestled, with a man’s force to be free; 
how its prison mountains heaved and swayed tumultuously, as the 
giant spirit shook them to this hand and that, and emerged into the 
light of Heaven ! That Leicester shoe-shop, had men known it, was 
a holier place than any Vatican or Loretto-shrine.” 

The sketch of Fox I am about to give, is drawn chiefly from his 


GEOKGE FOX. 


133 


own Journal, and is presented, as far as possible, in bis own 
language.* 

He was born in July, 1624, at Dray ton-in-the-Clay, in Leicester. 
He says :—“My father’s name was Christopher Fox: he was by pro¬ 
fession a weaver, an honest man; and there was a seed of God in 
him. The neighbours called him ‘ Righteous Christie.’ My mother 
was an upright woman, her maiden name was Mary Lago; of the 
family of the Lagos, and of the stock of the martyrs.” Of his early 
life, he remarks:—“ While I was a child I was taught how to walk so 
as to be kept pure. The Lord taught me to be faithful in all things— 
inwardly to God, and outwardly to man, that my words should be 
few and savoury, seasoned with grace ; and that I might not eat and 
drink to make myself wanton, but for health; using the creatures as 
servants in their places, to the glory of Him that created them.” It 
may be questioned whether a University education could have taught 
him anything of greater value. 

His grave deportment, and his observations and inquiries on 
religion, “ beyond his years,” induced some of his relatives to advise 
that he should be educated for the church; but, whether from any 
objection on his own part or not, the plan was ultimately abandoned; 
and he was placed with a shoemaker, who was also a dealer in sheep 
and wool. In this occupation the greatest confidence was reposed in 
him from his proved vigilance: his constant use of the word “ verily” 
in his dealings, caused those who knew him to say—“ If George says 
* verily,’ there is no moving him.” On one occasion, when about nine¬ 
teen years of age, he had been greatly offended with the light and 
profane conversation of the young men by whom he was surrounded. 
He went home in great grief, and spent the greater part of the night 
alone and in prayer, when, he tells us, the following language was 
intelligibly addressed to his mind:—“ Thou seest how young people 
go together into vanity, and old people into the earth:—thou must 
forsake all, old and young, and be as a stranger unto all.” 

Possessing some little property, sufficient for the supply of his 
moderate wants, he entirely relinquished trade, that he might give 
himself up wholly to meditation and religious inquiry. As he 
advanced in years he became still more serious and thoughtful, yet 

* Macaulay has thought proper to sneer at Fox’s Journal, as “unintelligible” “absurd,” and 
so forth. One who is usually an authority with Macaulay has, however, judged differently: Sir 
Janies Mackintosh calls Fox’s Journal—“ One of the most extraordinary and instructive narratives 
in the world, which no reader of competent judgment can peruse without revering the virtue of 
the writer.” 


134 


GE0EGE EOX. 


was far from being a recluse, or neglecting tbe active duties of life. 
He sought out and visited those who were in distress, administering 
to their necessities as far as his slender means would allow. His 
benevolent and gentle disposition made him a general favourite, and 
though he generally declined attendance at the weddings and other 
festivities to which his neighbours invited him, he never failed to call 
upon the newly married people a short time afterwards, and give 
them good advice and good wishes, to which he usually added some 
useful present when they were poor. 

The religious exercises of his mind increasing, he broke off all 
familiarity with his former acquaintance, and leaving his native 
place, he travelled to London. On his journey, many who made 
great professions of religion sought to become acquainted with him, 
“ But,” he remarks, “ I was afraid of them, for I was sensible they 
did not possess what they professed.” He returned home after a few 
months, but shortly after, again set out on his travels about the 
country. “ He wandered,” says Macaulay, “ from congregation to 
. congregation: he heard priests harangue against puritans; he heard 
puritans harangue against priests ; and he in vain applied for spiritual 
direction and consolation to doctors of both parties. One jolly old 
clergyman of the Anglican communion told him to ‘ smoke tobacco 
and sing psalms.’ Another advised him to go and lose some blood. 
The young inquirer turned in disgust from these advisers to the dis¬ 
senters and found them also blind guides.” 

He now wandered about in solitary places, fasting often, and often 
sitting in hollow trees, with the Bible in his hand, until night came; 
sometimes even passing whole nights in meditation and prayer— 
battling with doubts and temptations. At one time, he lay in a 
trance for fourteen days, and many who came to see him during that 
time wondered to see his countenance so changed, for he not only 
had the appearance of a dead man, but seemed to them to be really 
dead; but after this his mind was greatly relieved of its sorrow, 
“ So that he could have wept night and day with tears of joy to the 
Lord, in humility and brokenness of heart.” “In this state,” he 
says, “ I saw that which was without end, and things which cannot 
tje uttered; and of the greatness and infiniteness of the love of God, 
which cannot be expressed by words : for I had been brought through 
the very ocean of darkness and death, and through and over the 

power of Satan, by the eternal glorious power of Christ.And I 

saw the harvest white, and the seed of God lying thick in the 



GE0EGE EOX. 


135 


ground, as ever wheat did, that was sown outwardly, and none to 
gather it; and for that I mourned with tears.” 

At length, the purpose of all this providential training became 
manifest to him. “ At one time,” he says, “ walking in the fields, 
on a first-day morning, the Lord gave me to see that being educated 
at college, or acquiring human learning, was not enough to fit and 
qualify men to be ministers of Christ; and I wondered at it, because 
it was the common belief of people. But I saw it clearly as the Lord 
opened it to me, and was satisfied, and admired the goodness of the 
Lord, who had opened this thing unto me that morning.” 

Again, a little later, he says:—“ The Lord showed me that the 
natures of those things which were hurtful without, were within, in 
the hearts and minds of wicked men. The natures of dogs, swine, 
vipers, of Sodom and Egypt, Pharaoh, Cain, Ishmael, Esau, &c., 
the natures of these things I saw within, though people had been 
looking without. I cried to the Lord, saying, ‘ Why should I be thus, 
seeing that I was never addicted to commit these evils.’ And the 
Lord answered, * That it was needful X should have a sense of all 
conditions, how else should I speak to all conditions ? And in 
this I saw the infinite love of Cod.” This looks like a glimpse of the 
system of “ Spiritual Correspondencies,” since so fully elaborated by 
Swedenborg. 

George Fox now saw, that before persons could properly declare 
to others the mysteries of life and salvation, they must become, in 
measure, practically acquainted with them in their own experience; 
and that as Christ called, commissioned, and sent forth his Apostles 
in the beginning of the Christian dispensation, so in these latter 
days, all who have a part in the ministry, must be called and qualified 
by him. 

From this time he ceased attendance on public preaching, but 
took his Bible, and went alone into private places, waiting upon the 
Lord in silence. In this retirement, his religious perplexities and 
distress of mind continuing, when all hope of help from man was 
utterly gone, and he had nothing outward to look to, he writes : 

* e Then, oh! then I heard a voice which said, ‘ There is one, even 
Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.’ And when I heard 
it, my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord let me see why there 
was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition; namely, 
that I might give Him all the glory.” &c. 

At twenty-three, he commenced his public labours as a minister of 


136 


GEORGE FOX. 


the gospel. In describing his commission, he says “I was sent to 
turn people from darkness to light—to the grace of God, and to the 
truth in the heart, which came by Jesus, that all might come to 
know their salvation nigh. I saw that Christ died for all men; that 
the manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every man to 
profit withal. These things I did not see by the help of man, nor 
by the letter (of the Scriptures) though they are written in the 
letter, but I saw them in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by 
his immediate Spirit and power, as did the Holy men of God by whom 
the Holy Scriptures were written. Yet I had no slight esteem of 
the Holy Scriptures; they were very precious to me, for I was in 
that Spirit by which they were given forth; and what the Lord 
opened to me, I afterwards found was agreeable to them.” 

He taught that the preaching of the gospel should not be made a 
trade, but that it should be preached freely, and by all, rich or poor, 
learned or unlearned, men or women, who felt themselves divinely 
commissioned to that end. He inveighed against flattering titles, 
needless and vain compliments, fashions, customs, and ceremonies; 
advocating plainness, simplicity, temperance, justice, and a rigid 
adherence to truth, coupled with literal obedience to the command, 
“ Swear not at all.” He “ proclaimed an insurrection against every 
form of authority over conscience; he resisted every attempt at the 
slavish subjection of the understanding. But he circumscribed this 
freedom by obedience to truth.” Christianity, to him, was the 
highest proclamation of man’s freedom, the Magna Charta of the 
universal rights of humanity. He held that war and violence were 
contrary to both the letter and the spirit of Christ’s gospel. He 
insisted above all things, on the need of inward purification, of being 
guided by the Divine light—the “ seed of God,” which he taught was 
in every man—the revealer and the test of all truth. 

In his Journal we find frequent averments and illustrations oi 
Spirit-power, distinct from him, but operating upon and by him. He 
speaks repeatedly of “ hearing a voice,” of being “ moved by the Lord,” 
of having “visions,” of “great openings,” and of “prophecies,”* 

* I subjoin an instance of these “great openings from the Lord.” “Now (this was about 
1648) was I come up in spirit, through the flaming sword into the paradise of God. The creation 
was opened to me: and it was showed me how all things had their names given them, according 
to their nature and virtue. And I was at a stand in my mind whether I should practise physic 
for the good of mankind, seeing the nature and virtue of the creatures were so opened to me by 
the Lord. And the Lord showed me that such as were faithful to Him in the power and light of 
Christ should come up into that state in which Adam was before he fell; in which the admirable 


GEORGE EOX. 


137 


as well as of spiritual “ exercises” and “ temptationsof “ having a 
sense and discerning given me by the Lord,” and of travelling in 
the Lord’s service “ as the Lord led me.” He tells us that there 
“ came people from far and near to see me; but I was fearful of being 
drawn out by them; yet was I made to speak and open things to 
them.” The manifestations of spiritual power in his presence were 
sometimes so great as to be visible to those around him. Thus : 

“ At Eton, near Derby, there was a meeting of Friends, where there 
was such a mighty power of God that they were greatly shaken, and 
many mouths were opened in the power of the Lord God.” When 
at Mansfield, there was a great meeting of professors and people :— 
“ Here 1 was moved to pray; and the Lord’s power was so great, 
that the house seemed to be shaken. When I had done, some of 
the professors said that it was now as in the days of the Apostles, 
when the house was shaken where they were.” “ In the steeple- 
house at Ulverton, when the priest had done, I spoke among them 
the words of the Lord, which was as a hammer and a fire among 
them. And though Lampitt, the priest of the place, had been at 
variance with most of the priests before, yet against the truth they 
all joined together. But the mighty power of the Lord was over all, 
and so wonderful was the appearance thereof, that priest Bennett 
said * the church shook,’ insomuch that he was afraid and trembled. 
And when he had spoken a few confused words, he hastened out, 
for fear it should fall on his head.” 

At one time, at a “great steeple-house” in Nottingham, where he 
had been sent, “ The Lord’s power,” he says, “ was so mighty upon 
me, that I could not hold, but was made to cry out,” &c. For protest¬ 
ing in this way against the doctrine taught in the “ steeple-house, 
the constable came and put him into a “nasty stinking prison.”* 

works of the creation, and the virtues thereof may be known, through the openings of that divine 
word of wisdom and power by which they were made. Great things did the Lord lead me into, 
and wonderful depths were opened up unto me beyond what can by words be declared; but as 
people come mto subjection to the Spirit of God, and grow up into the image and power of the 
Almighty, they may receive the word of wisdom that opens all things, and come to know the 
hidden unity in the Eternal Being.” 

These “ openings” were not always confined exclusively to divine things, as the following 
instance may show. In the beginning of 1653, while at Strathmore, his friends, Judge Fell and 
Justice Benson, chancing to be conversing upon the political events of the time and the doings of 
the long Parliament, Fox was “moved in spirit” to tell them “that before that day two weeks the 
long Parliament would be broken up, and the speaker plucked out of his chair.” Which prediction 

was literally fulfilled. . 

* This appears to be the only instance of Fox having broken in upon the services ot any 
religious congregation, for in all his future attendance at churches, he either waited till invited to 


138 


GEORGE FOX. 


Not only against doctrinal error, but against practical injustice 
was he constrained to raise a warning voice; thus, (I am still 
quoting his Journal,) “At a certain time, when I was at Mansfield, 
there was a sitting of justices about hiring of servants; and it was 
upon'me from the Lord to go and speak to the justices that they 
should not oppress the servants in their wages. So I walked 
towards the inn where they sat; but finding a company ef fiddlers 
there, I did not go in, but thought to come in the morning; but 
when I came again in the morning, I was struck even blind, so that 
I could not see. I inquired of the inn-keeper where the justices were 
to sit that day; and he told me at a town eight miles off. My sight 
began to come to me again, and I ran thitherward as fast as I could. 
When I was come to the house where they were, and many servants 
with them, I exhorted the justices not to oppress the servants in 
their wages, but to do that which was right and just to them; and 

exhorted the servants to do their duties justly and honestly. 

They all received my exhortation kindly, for I was moved by the 
Lord herein.” 

I subjoin some further phases of Fox’s experience as a spiritual 
medium. “ After this I went to a village, and many people accom¬ 
panied me. As I was sitting in a house full of people, declaring the 
word of life unto them, I cast mine eye upon a woman, and dis¬ 
cerned an unclean spirit in her. And I was moved of the Lord to 
speak sharply to her, and told her she was under the influence of 
an unclean spirit; whereupon she went out of the room. Now, I 
being a stranger there, and knowing nothing of the woman out¬ 
wardly, the people wondered at it, and told me afterwards that I 
had discovered a great thing; for all the country looked upon her 
to be a wicked person. The Lord had given me a spirit of discern¬ 
ing, by which I many times saw the states and conditions of 

speak, or, till the service was ended; a strong presumptive evidence that, in this instance, his 
speaking was involuntary, and in obedience to a spiritual power which he was unable to resist, in 
accordance with his own express declaration. Had he acted on his own volition, it is not likely 
that his conduct would have been thus exceptional; for, as Clarkson justly remarks:—“ No 
punishment or danger ever deterred him from doing, or repeating whatever he conceived to be his 
duty.’* 

“It was a common practice, in those days of religious excitement, for the incumbents, or rather 
the occupiers of the different parochial livings, to invite religious professors of all sorts, to meet 
and canvass the floating doctrines of the day, both at the churches and at other places; and this 
practice had already engaged George Fox in many religious discussions, and also accounts for the 
early Quakers having so often resorted to churches, either to declare their doctrines, or to exhort 
men to amend their lives, and act up to the spirit of that holy religion which they all professed to 
follow in some shape.”— Marsh’s Popular Life of Fox. 



GEORGE EOX. 


139 


people, and could try tlieir spirits.” Of tliis lie gives several in* 
stances, which I have not space to quote. 

Here is a case of healing by spirit-power“ After some time I 
went to a meeting at Arn-Side, where Richard Myer was, who had 
been long lame of one of his arms. I was moved of the Lord to 
say unto him, amongst all the people, * Stand up on thy legs, 
and he stood up and stretched out his arm that had been lame for 
a long time, and said, ‘ Be it known unto you, all people, that 
this day I am healed.’ Yet his parents would hardly believe it; 
but after the meeting was done, they had him aside, took off his 
doublet, and then saw it was true. He came soon after to Swarth- 
more meeting, and there declared how that the Lord had healed 
him.” 

Macaulay sneers at Fox’s “casting out devils Well, here is an 
instance of his exorcism: let the reader judge how far the historian’s 
sneer is merited. “ Coming to Mansfield-Woodhouse, there was a 
distracted woman under a doctor’s hand, with her hair all loose 
about her ears. He was about to bleed her, she being first bound, 
and many people being about her holding her by violence, but he 
could get no blood from her. I desired them to unbind her, and let 
her alone, for they could not touch the spirit in her by which she 
was tormented. So they unbound her, and I was moved to. speak to 
her, and in the name of the Lord to bid her be quiet and still. And 
she was so. The Lord’s power settled in her mind, and she mended; 
and afterwards she received the truth, and continued in it to her 
death. The Lord’s name was honoured: to whom the glory of all his 
works belongs. Many great and wonderful things were wrought by 
the heavenly power in those days; for the Lord laid bare his omnipo¬ 
tent arm, and manifested His power to the astonishment of many, 
by the healing virtue whereof many have been delivered from great 
infirmities, and the devils were made subject through His name; of 
which particular instances might be given beyond what this unbe¬ 
lieving age is able to receive or bear.” 

Perhaps the most striking incident in the experience of George Fox 
is that which he thus relates “ As I was walking along with several 
Friends, I lifted up my head, and I saw three steeple-house spires, 
and they struck at my life. I asked them what place that was ? and 
they said Lichfield. Immediately the word of the Lord came to me 
that I must go thither. Being come to the house we were going.to, 
I wished the Friends that were with me to walk into the house, saying 


140 


GEORGE FOX. 


nothing to them -whither I was to go. As soon as they were gone, I 
stepped away, and went by my eye over hedge and ditch, till I came 
within a mile of Lichfield; where in a great field, there were shepherds 
keeping their sheep. Then I was commanded by the Lord to pull off my 
shoes. I stood still; for it was winter, and the word of the Lord was like 
a> fire in me. So I put off my shoes, and left them with the shepherds ; 
and the poor shepherds trembled and were astonished. Then I walked 
on about a mile, and as soon as 1 was within the city, the word of 
the Lord came again to me, saying, ‘ Cry, Woe unto the bloody city 
of Lichfield!’ So I went up and down the streets, crying with a 
loud voice—‘Woe to the bloody city of Lichfield!’ It being market- 
day, I went into the market-place, and to and fro in the several parts 
of it, and made stands, crying as before—‘Woe to the bloody city of 
Lichfield!’ And no one laid hands on me; but as I went thus 
crying through the streets, there seemed to me to be a channel 
of blood running down the streets, and the market-place appeared 
like a pool of blood. When I had declared what was upon me, and 
felt myself clear, 1 went out of the town in peace; and returning to 
the shepherds, gave them some money, and took my shoes of them 
again. But the fire of the Lord was so in my feet, and all over me, 
that I did not matter to put on my shoes any more, and was at a 
stand whether I should or not, till I felt freedom from the Lord so 
to do; and then, after I had washed my feet, I put on my shoes 
again. After this a deep consideration came upon me, why, or for 
what reason, I should be sent to cry against that city, and call it 
* The bloody city.’ For though the Parliament had the minister one 
while, and the king another, and much blood had been shed in the 
town, during the wars between them, yet that was no more than had 
befallen many other places. But afterwards I came to understand, 
that in the Emperor Dioclesian’s time, a thousand Christians were 
martyred in Lichfield. So I was to go, without my shoes, through 
the channel of their blood, and into the pool of their blood in the 
market-place, that I might raise up the memorial of the blood of 
those martyrs which had been shed a thousand years before, and lay 
cold in their streets. So the sense of this blood was upon me, and I 
obeyed the word of the Lord.” 

The teachings and practices of Fox and the early “ Friends” were 
so opposed to established doctrines, customs, and interests, that they 
were soon assailed with the bitterest persecution. Their dwellings 
were broken into and plundered to satisfy ecclesiastical exactions; 


GEOEGE EOX. 


141 


their meeting-houses were pulled down, and themselves mobbed, 
beaten, put in the stocks, fined, transported, and imprisoned; at one 
time more than four thousand were shut up in filthy dungeons, with 
common felons. But still they continued to meet, and, says one of 
their historians:—“ When assembled, they were often strengthened 
and comforted together, in silent waiting before the Lord; whilst, 
individually, they breathed their secret aspirations unto God, and 
realized that Christ was amongst them by his spirit, uniting their 
hearts together in mutual love to Him and his great cause. And 
when any amongst them under this deep feeling of true worship, 
were constrained in spirit to speak the word of exhortation, prayer, 
or praise, they gratefully accepted it, as from the Lord, and as 
drawing to Him.” 

As a picture of the violence and ill-treatment which Fox received, 
take the following instance. At Ulverton he was beaten with stones 
and stakes, and was so stunned by his blows that he lay for some time 
prostrate and senseless. “Recovering,” he says, “and feeling the 
power of the Lord to spring through me, I rose up again in the 
strength and power of the Eternal God.” Stretching out his 
arms he again commenced speaking with a loud voice, when a brutal 
mason struck him so violently over his hand with a rule, while it was 
extended, that the whole arm was completely stunned and powerless, 
and several of the by-standers exclaimed—“ he has spoiled his hand 
for life.” “But,” says Fox, “standing still in love, I felt the 
renewing power of the Lord to spring through me again, so that my 
hand and arm were instantly strengthened and restored, in the sight 
of all the people.” 

And so Fox continued labouring in this truly spiritual movement, 
writing, travelling, preaching, and gathering around him friends, and 
enemies, disciples and persecutors, for forty years; frequently ad¬ 
dressing large crowds in the open fields ; and—“ Although the lan¬ 
guage of his discourses was unpolished by art, and often abrupt, 
it was always striking and intelligent.” He travelled thus 
preaching through England, Scotland and Ireland; he also went to 
Holland, and even visited America, having been for “ some time 
drawn in spirit ” thither. An incident which occurred on his passage 
to Barbadoes may be worth relating. The vessel in which he took 
passage was chased by a Turkish man-of-war—which put the cap¬ 
tain and crew in great terror as it gained rapidly upon them. The 
captain came to George Fox to know what should be done, who 


142 


GEORGE FOX. 


told them—“ It was a trial of their faith, and therefore the Lord was 
to be waited on for counsel.” After “ retiring in spirit,” and “ waiting 
on the Lord,” “ the Lord showed me,” says Fox, “ that His life and 
power was placed between us and them.” Fox then told them to put 
out all the lights, except the one they steered by, and directed that all 
in the ship should be as quiet as possible, and that they should tack 
about and steer their right course. They did so, but still the vessel 
gained on them, and was now so close that the passengers were 
alarmed. The watch cried out “ They are just upon us :” and rising 
up in his berth, Fox looked through a port-hole, the moon not being 
quite down, and perceived it was so. He was about to go up and 
leave the cabin, but remembering that it had been showed him “ that 
the Lord’s life and power was between them,” he returned again 
to bed. Soon after this, the moon went down, and a fresh breeze 
springing up, they escaped out of their hands, though they had 
come so close that it seemed almost impossible. “Afterwards,” 
says Fox, “while we were at Barbadoes, there came in a merchant 
from Salee, and told the people—* That one of the Salee men-of-war 
saw a monstrous yacht at sea, the greatest that ever he saw, and had 
her in chase, and was just upon her, but that there was a spirit in 
her that he could not take.’ This confirmed us in the belief that it 
was a Salee-man we saw make after us, and that it was the Lord 
that delivered us out of his hands.” 

George Fox has left us the example of a noble, manly life. One 
of the bravest soldiers in the Christian camp, ever ready at the call of 
duty, he fought a good fight unto the end, and accomplished much 
for liberty of conscience, simple gospel truth, and a more spiritual 
worship. In the year 1690, he passed from his labours and suffer¬ 
ings on earth to that heavenly land he had beheld in vision. In 
death, his spirit triumphed over his mortal decay; his last words 
were:—“ All is well—the seed of God reigns over all, and over death 
itself. And though I am weak in body, yet the power of God is over 
all, and the Lord reigns over all disorderly spirits.” Truly we may 
say that his end was Peace. 

His life, as we have in some measure seen, furnishes abundant 
illustration of the leading phenomena of “ spiritual manifestations.” 
We have Spiritual impressions, Spiritual guidance, Trance, Visions, 
Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Possession, Exorcism, and speaking 
under spiritual power, accompanied with tremblings of the person 
and of surrounding objects. Did the scope and limits of this work 


THE CAMISARS. 


143 


permit, further illustrations, of the same kind, though in each case in 
different degree, might be given from Sewel’s History of the Quakers , 
and from the experiences of Barclay, Hayler, Ellwood, Wilson, 
Woolman, Sands, Lancaster, Roberts, Grellet, Hoag, Hopper, and 
others of the disciples of George Fox. What indeed is the Friends* 
doctrine of “waiting for the Spirit,” and the “inward light,” but 
the expression of the belief in spiritual impression and illumination 
in their highest degree ? 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE PROTESTANTS OF THE CEVENNES, OR CAMISARS. 

One of the most striking demonstrations of supernatural guidance 
and protection in the Christian ages is to be found in the history of 
the struggle of the Protestant peasantry of the Cevennes, for freedom 
of worship against the overwhelming forces that sought to crush them. 
Mr. Howitt, in his recent History of the Supernatural , (Chap, xvil, 
Vol. n), and somewhat more fully in the British Spiritual Telegraphy 
(Vol. in), has sketched in clear, vigorous outline, the history of their 
« holy war,” and the wonderful facts with which it was accompanied; 
citing the original authorities from which his account is compiled. 
I shall, therefore, content myself with presenting little more 
than a few passages from the affidavits of eye-witnesses before 
magistrates, as contained in a work translated from Le Theatre 
Sacre des Cevennes , under the title of A Cry from the Desert; or t 
Testimonials of the Miraculous Things lately come to pass in the 
Cevennes , with a Preface by John Lacy, Esq., London, 1707. Some 
idea of the character and value of this work may be formed from the 
following passage in the “ Advertisement to the Reader”: “ The 

Testimonies in this small Treatise are quotations out of the books of 
M. Benoist, M. Brueys, M. Boyer, and the Marquis de Guiscard. 
Those written by their own hands, are the letters of a Minister in 
Holland, M. Caladon, Madame Vebron, the Marquis de Puysieux, 
and the testimonies in form of twenty-six eye and ear-witnesses, now 
or lately resident in London. Twelve of the latter, viz., MM. Daudy, 
Facio, Portales, Vernet, Arnassan, Marion, Fage, Cavallier, Mazel, 
Du Bois, and Mesdames Castanet and Charras, did on the sixth of 
March, and the first of April last, (1706) affirm their Depositions 



144 


THE CAMISARS. 


upon Oath, before John Edisbury, Esq., and Sir Richard Holford, 
Masters in Chancery.” 

The circumstances under which the wonderful spirit manifestations 
among the Cevennes arose, are briefly these:— 

In France, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, (1688) the 
Protestant pastors were banished the country. In the South, their 
flocks followed them in such multitudes, that, to prevent the whole 
district from becoming depopulated, Louis XIY. forbad any Pro¬ 
testant to quit the country. Those who attempted to do so were 
punished by the confiscation of their property, with the galleys, or 
perpetual imprisonment. Still, though under military coercion, de¬ 
prived of their pastors, and plundered of their property; and despite 
all the horrors of the galleys, the filthy prisons—filled to repletion, 
and the torture; the Protestants would not attend mass, and would 
not conform. It was therefore determined to lay waste the country, 
and exterminate the Protestant population. In the agony of despair 
the Cevennois cried mightily to God, and God visibly manifested his 
power for their deliverance. Under an inspiration and guidance 
they felt to be from Heaven, a handful of ignorant, rudely-armed 
rustics, without resources, destitute of stores, military leaders, or 
experience, confronted, baffled, and put to shame the first military 
power in Europe; inflicting on the royal army a loss of one-third of 
its numbers. How this was brought about, may be seen from the 
concurrent testimonies of those who were witnesses and actors in the 
struggle, some of which are here given. 

Durand Fage, of Aubais, testifies :—“ All things in general done 
by ps, or for any particular exploit, were directed always by the 
orders of the Spirit; we obeyed constantly the inspirations of little 

children, and people never so simple.In the troop where I 

served, the officers, and in particular M. Cavallier, were all graced 
with extraordinary gifts; and they were constituted such for no other 
reason, having otherwise no knowledge of military affairs, or any¬ 
thing else to recommend them; but all was given them in that way. 
When a matter came under debate that the inspirations did not 
prescribe, their application was commonly to M. Cavallier. He, 
thereupon .... lifting up his mind to God, the Spirit fell upon him, 

and then resolved the point.In occasions of great moment, 

there was a prayer of all present, everyone supplicating God by him¬ 
self, for his determination on that point. Immediately some one, or 
more, were taken with inspiration.The inspired (what number 




THE CAMISARS. 


145 


soever they happened to be,) ever spoke the same thing to the point 
in question; and immediately the business was but how to execute 

or obey it.Were it, that we were to attack the enemy? Were 

we pursued by them? Did the night overtake us? Were am¬ 
bushes apprehended ? Did some unlucky accident fall out ? Or if 
we were at a loss for the place of religious assembling ? We fell on 
our knees:—‘ Lord, appear to our help ; make known to us thy good 
pleasure, what we are to do : most for thy glory, and our own welfare.’ 
This was the common course; and immediately we received a direc¬ 
tion from the Spirit.I believe that not one single man in our 

troop, either fell in battle, or being made prisoner, suffered death, 
(for we had no cartel,) but who had previous notice of it some time 
before; and in that case, they with humility surrendered to God’s 

disposal, and showed great constancy in that resignation.. 

Furthermore, when the inspiration said, ‘ March, fear not, obey my 
command, do this or that, nothing could ever dissuade from it. I 
speak of the most faithful, and who had best experience of the faith¬ 
fulness of God. When we were to engage in battle, if the Spirit 
strengthened me with the words, ‘ Fear nothing, my child, I will 
preserve and stand by thee,’ I rushed into the midst of the enemy, 
as if their hands had been paper, and I were sheltered in steel. 
By such encouragement, our boys of twelve years old, laid about 
them on the right and left like valiant men; those who had neither 
sword nor gun, did wonders with a club, pitchfork, or sling. The 
showers of musket balls whistled in our ears, and went through our 
hats and sleeves, without exciting terror. If the spirit had said, 
‘ Fear not,’ a shower of bullets was but as one of common hail. In 
like manner was it with us on all other occasions, when under war¬ 
rant of the inspirations. For instance, when the Spirit, whose care 
for us we depended on, intimated there was no need of them, we 
placed no sentinels about our assemblies, as otherwise we used to 
do; and we should have thought ourselves assured of deliverance, 
though in chains and dungeons, with the Duke of Berwick and 
the Intendant Basville for our keepers, if an inspiration had said to 
us, ‘ You shall be delivered.’ ” 

“lam satisfied,” said Elias Marion, of Barre, “that as God sup¬ 
pressed, when he pleased, the power of flames, and did other like 
miracles among us, so he deadened the force of musket balls, that 
they sometimes dropped harmless, and rebounded from them whom 
God would be a shield to. One of our soldiers showed me his coat 

L 





146 


THE CAMISARS. 


pierced with three bullets, each two fingers’ breadth from the other, 
against the small of his back, and assured me he took them between. 

his shirt and his skin. One of my intimates, the Cadet la F- 

received a musket ball shot down upon him from a window; which 
went through the crown of his hat, and he took it from between his 
hair, having suffered ho hurt by it. Those among us, who just 
before an engagement, or on other occasions, were told by the 
inspirations they had nothing to fear—which was frequent—never 

were slain or wounded, that I could learn.It would require a 

large volume to relate all the wonders God wrought by the means of 
the inspirations, which, in his good pleasure, he gave to us. I pro¬ 
test before him, that generally speaking, they were our laws and 
guides; and, in truth, when we met with disgraces, it was either 
for not punctually observing their orders, or when an enterprise was 
undertaken without them. It was by inspiration that we forsook our 
parents and relatives, and whatever was dearest to us, to follow 
Christ, and to make war against the devil and his followers. This 
was the source of that brotherly love, union, and charity which 

reigned amongst us.It was only by the inspirations that we 

began the war, and that for the defence of our holy religion. 

We had neither power, nor counsel, but the inspirations were all our 
refuge and support. They alone chose our officers and commanders, 
and by them did we steer. They instructed us to bear the first fire 
of the enemy upon our knees, and to make an attack upon them with 
a loud chant of psalms, to create terror. They changed our fearful 
natures into that of lions, and made us perform prodigies. Taught 
by them, we lamented not when our brethren fell in battle, or suffered 
martyrdom : we lamented for nothing but our sins. They were our 
inspirations which enabled us to repel armies of from 20,000 to 60,000 
of the best troops of France. They drew into the bosom of the true 
Christian Church thousands from the worship of the Beast. They 
filled our teachers and preachers with words of fire and knowledge 
far beyond their own conceptions. They expelled sorrow from our 
hearts in the midst of the most imminent perils; in the depths of 
cold and hunger in caverns and deserts. They taught us to bear 
lightly the heaviest crosses and afflictions. They taught us to 
deliver our brethren from their prisons—to know and to convict 
traitors; to shun ambushes, to discover plots, and to strike down 
persecutors. As these holy inspirations led us to victory, much 
more gloriously did they enable our martyrs to triumph over their 





THE CAMISARS. 


147 


enemies on the scaffold. There it was that the power of the Almighty 
did great things ! That was the dreadful furnace in which the truth 
and faithfulness of the inspired saints were proved. The admirable 
words of consolation, the triumphant song of a great number of 
these thrice happy martyrs, whilst their bones were breaking on the 
wheel, and the flames were devouring their flesh, were doubtless a 
considerable testimony to these inspirations proceeding from the 
Lord, the author of every good and perfect gift. Here, in fine, were 
those heavenly gifts and graces, the holiness of whose origin was 
testified by the events always following the predictions.” 

Spies and traitors were frequently detected among them by those 
in the inspiration. The following occurred to Marion:—“ Being in 
the village of Ferrieres, near Barre, about May, 1703, I was seized 
with the Spirit at noon; and therein I saw a vision; and among 
other things, I remember these words came from me:—‘ I assure 
thee, my child, there is a man now gone to one of thy enemies’ 
houses, and is discoursing with him to seize thee; that man 
lives towards thy left hand, he will be early at the assembly to¬ 
morrow morning, and I will make him known to thee.’ The 
spirit immediately represented that person walking with M. Cam- 
predon, deputy of the Jntendant of Barre, as if I had been in the 
same room with them; I saw them, and heard every word they 

said.When my inspiration was over, I acquainted Yalette 

with what I had seen; I described to him the peasant, his height, 
age, countenance, and clothes, by which description he came to be 
discovered. Next day, the assembly was at Aubaret, a league from 
Barre; while a psalm was singing, I was struck with the ecstasy, and 
cried out aloud, that the man who came to betray us entered just 
then into the assembly. The Spirit repeated ’from my mouth the 
whole intercourse between Campredon and him. As soon as I 
returned to my natural condition, my eyes fixed upon the spy, whom 
I knew by the precedent vision. Whilst the account I gave was 
relating, the man turned so pale, that the standers-by suspected him. 

. .. He confessed clearly the transaction between Campredon and him.” 

“ Our troop,” says Durand Fage, “ was once between Nair and La 
Cour de Creviez, when our leader Cavallier had a vision whilst he 
was sitting, on which he started up and said these words,—‘ Oh, my 
God! how wonderful! I have seen in vision the Marshal Mon- 
trevel, at Allez, giving to a messenger letters against us to carry to 
Nismes. Let somebody hasten away, and they will find the express, 

L 2 



148 


THE CAMISARS. 


in such a habit, and on such a horse, and attended by such and such 
persons, (describing all these). Bide full speed, and you will meet 
them passing the Gardon.’ In a moment three of our men got on 
horseback, Eickard, Bouvet, and another: and they found the courier 
in the place, and with the company, just as described by brother 
Cavallier. The courier being brought to our troop, they found 
letters upon him from the Marshal, so that by this revelation we 
happily discovered many things whereof good use was made in the 
sequence. The messenger was sent back on foot, I was then pre¬ 
sent, and saw these things all pass before my eyes.” 

John Cavaxlier, of Sauve, relates the following, which is also 
related by various other spectators :—“ After the battle of Gaverne, 
in the winter of 1703, we went to refresh our troop at the castle of 
Eouviere, half a league from Sauve. Being there with my cousin 
Cavallier, our leader, with several officers of the troop, my cousin 
said aloud, ‘ I find myself struck with sorrow; some Judas has kissed 
me to-day.’ Nevertheless, the dinner came up, and there sate down 
to dinner about twenty persons of the troop, and friends of the 
neighbourhood: among whom was one Mazarin, a tailor of Sauve, a 
professed protestant, who had been a friend of the late illustrious M. 
Brousson. This man was a confidant too, of M. Cavallier; and every 
one had a respect for him, because he was a diligent attender of 
our religious assemblies. He often, indeed, helped to summon 
them; he received also the contributions of those who yielded us 
supplies of money, and had himself suffered imprisonment for some 
of his good works. This man was forty-five years of age. When 
we were at table, Mazarin on the right hand next my cousin, and 
myself on his left, the Spirit came upon me with violent agitations, in 
the middle of dinner, and among other words it spoke to me were 
these‘ I say unto thee, my child, one that sits at this table, and 
has had his hand in the same dish with my servant, has an intention 
to poison him.’ My inspiration was no sooner over, than a female 
relation of my cousin’s in the same room, near the fire fell into 
ecstasy, and had these words ‘ There is in this company a Judas, 
who has kissed my servant, and who is come hither to poison him.’ 
As soon as my cousin, now Colonel Cavallier, heard what I had said, 
he ceased to eat, and ordered the doors to be guarded; but when the 
other announcement was made by the young woman, the guard was 
doubled. He himself ate no more, but the rest continued their 
dinner. Before we rose from table, brother Eavanel, who has since 


THE CAMISARS. 


149 


suffered martyrdom, was seized also with violent agitation, and by 
the Spirit said:—‘ Amongst the company at this table there is a 
traitor, who has received a sum of money to poison my servant, and 
even the whole troop if he be able. I tell thee he has promised the 
enemy to poison the commander of it; and upon his entrance into 
this house, he proposed within himself to poison the water of the 
great cistern, and the bucket in it, in order to poison the flock, in 
case he should fail to destroy the shepherd.’ At this very moment, 
my cousin commanded a guard to the castle cistern, and that the 
bucket shall be flung into it, forbidding any one to draw of the water. 
At the same instant there came some of the company into our room, 
to acquaint us that brother Du Plan, brigadier of the troop, who 
was in another room, was surprised by a very extraordinary ecstasy 
with agitations extremely violent. I went thither and heard him 
say :—‘ I make known to thee, my child, there is a man in this house 
who has sold my servant for a sum of money, five hundred livres, 
and has eaten at the same table with him. But I tell thee, this 
traitor shall be discovered; he shall be convicted of his crime. I 
say unto thee he meditates at this moment to fling away the poison 
hidden about him, or to convey the same into the clothes or pockets 
of some others of the company; but I will suffer him to be dis¬ 
covered, and mentioned by name.’ My cousin being informed of 
what Du Plan had said, ordered him to come into a chamber apart, 
with the three other persons inspired, and all those who had sate at 
the table with him. There they were searched, and Du Plan coming 
in at the moment, still under agitation, went straight to Mazarin, 
and laying his hand upon his arm, taxed him with the crime, in a 
strain of emphatic vehemence:—‘ Knowest thou not, O wretch ! 
that I discern all things ? I am He that searcheth the heart and 
the reins; the secrets of all thoughts are open to me. Dost thou 
not dread my awful judgments ? Darest thou deny thy conspiracy 
with the enemies of my people ? Confess, thou miserable wretch, 
confess!’ Mazarin, in consternation, attempted to excuse himself, 
but Du Plan with redoubled fervour of expression, peremptorily 
added, that the poison was in Mazarin’s snuff-box, and in the 
folding of his coat-sleeve. Then was he fully convicted before us! 
My eyes are witness of all these passages. The snuff-box was 
taken from his pocket filled with poison, and a packet of it wrapped 
in paper was found in his sleeve.” 

It was on an occasion of this kind that the great trial of faith 


150 


THE CAMISAES. 


by fire, so celebrated by the Camisars occurred. I quote the ac¬ 
count of Fage, who was an eye-witness :—“ Cavallier having called 
a religious assembly near the tile-kiln of Serignan, betwixt Quisac 
and Somiere, one Sunday in August 1703, at about three in the 
afternoon, brother Clary, who was of our troop, a young man of 
about eight-and-twenty, who had care of the provisions, fell into an 
ecstasy. He declared that there were two persons in the assembly 
who came thither to betray us, and that if they did not repent of 
their design, he himself would discover them in the name of God. 
At these words, Cavallier, not questioning the truth of the inspira¬ 
tion, ordered about 600 soldiers to surround the congregation, and to 
suffer no one to depart. Clary continuing under inspiration, strongly 
agitated, his eyes closed, and his hands lifted up, immediately walked 
forward, and laid his hands on one of the traitors. The other, seeing 
his accomplice thus miraculously discovered, threw himself at the 
feet of Cavallier, confessing the guilt of them both, and imploring 
pardon. Cavallier ordered them to be bound and reserved for the 
judgment of the assembly: but Clary, still in ecstasy, cried aloud, 
that there were some present who suspected an understanding 
betwixt him and the two seized: therefore, God would manifest his 
own power, and confound their disbelief. At that instant his agita¬ 
tion became greater than ever, and he cried out, in the Spirit:_‘ Oh! 

people of little faith, do ye doubt my power, after all the wonders I 
have shown you? I tell thee, my child, that I will display my 
power and my truth. I command that a fire be lighted, and that 
thou place thyself in the midst of it. Fear not for the flame shall 
not touch thee.’ 

“When these words were heard, there was a loud outcry of those 
who had doubted, begging pardon, and declaring themselves satisfied: 
praying God to spare the trial by fire, for they acknowledged that He 
knew their hearts. Bat Cavallier ordered the fire to be made. I was 
one of those who fetched wood for it, and the branches being dry, 
for they had been collected for the use of the tile-kiln, the pile 
mingled with larger boughs was raised in the midst of the assembly. 
The fire was lighted, whether by himself or not I do not know, but 
when the flame began to mount, he went into the midst of it, and 
stood with his hands elevated, elapsed together, and still in ecstasy. 
Clary had on a white blouse, which his wife had brought him that 
morning, and he went on speaking amongst the flames, though what 
he said could not be understood, for besides the assembly, which 


THE CAMISAES. 


151 


consisted of five or six hundred people, the circle was surrounded by 
the six hundred men under arms, and all were on their knees, weep¬ 
ing passionately, praying, singing psalms, and crying, “Pardon! 
Mercy!” The fire was made in a low spot, so that all round on the 
hill sides could see it, Clary in the midst of it, and the flames meeting 
above his head. The wife of Clary was near the fire in an agony of 
terror, and praying vehemently to God. I stood at her side sup¬ 
porting her, and encouraging her all that I could. There were near 
her also two of her sisters, her father, one of her brothers, and 
several of the relatives of Clary. Those who collected the wood 
also thrust the scattered branches into the fire, till the whole was 
consumed; Clary, *at the end of about a quarter-of-an-hour, walked 
out of the burning cinders, still under inspiration, but wholly un¬ 
touched by the fire. His friends rushed to embrace him, and to 
congratulate him on that wondrous proof of his faith. I was one of 
the first to embrace him. I examined his white blouse, and it was 
not in the least injured in the fire, nor was his hair singed. His wife 
and relations were in transports of joy, praising God. Cavallier 
ordered a general prayer and thanksgiving for this great miracle, 
which God had vouchsafed to confirm the faith and courage of his 
servants.” 

The affidavit of John Cavallier, who was also present, confirms 
this account of Fage in every particular. 

Hor was this the only instance of the kind. “ To confound the 
murmurers, who had let in doubts of their chief, Cavallier, when 
two thousand of the Camisars were praying in the open air at Cal- 
visson, ordered a great pile of vine and olive branches to be made. 
A young woman, accompanied by two young prophets, who exhorted 
her to have faith in God, approached it. She fell on her knees, and 
prayed with ever-augmenting fervour that God would confer on her 
exemption from the power of fire. She commanded the whole multi¬ 
tude to kneel, menancing with the wrath of God all who refused to 
prostrate themselves before His glory, which He was about to reveal 
in wonders. She then arose, entered the flaming pile, walked 
through it, returned, entered, and re-entered again three times. 
The multitude bursting into tears, cried aloud in admiration of the 
marvels of God. Silence being re-established, she fell on her knees, 
and prayed that she might be permitted to take fire in her hands as 
if it were water, and that instead of burning, it should refresh her* 
She arose, took coals of fire in her hands, held them, and then casting 


152 


THE CAMISARS. 


them back, followed by tbe two prophets, she retired into the crowd 
rejoicing and blessing God.” 

Another frequent manifestation to the inspired was that whole ar¬ 
mies of angels encamped about them, and were seen by them in actual 
combat with their enemies. When lost in the woods and mountains, 
seeking their religious assemblies, meteors descending towards the 
spot where they were being held, directed them. “A relative of 
mine,” says Durand Fage, “who was going to an assembly with 
about a dozen others, of whom I was one, on the way fell into an 
ecstasy, and the Spirit said to her, ‘ I will cause a light, my child, 
to direct you to the proper place.’ Immediately we saw a light fall 
from Heaven, and knowing the direction of the country, we were 
satisfied where we should find the assembly. It was not more than a 
quarter of a league distant, and we had not proceeded five hundred 
paces towards the spot indicated, when we caught the sound of 
the psalms.” Claude Arnassan, of Montel, relates a similar fact. 
When he and about forty other persons arrived at the place before 
appointed for the assembly, they found no one there, and judged that 
some motive of caution had caused them to change the rendezvous. 
They prayed to God for direction, and hasting thither in perfect 
confidence, they soon caught the sound of the psalm, and found the 
assembly exactly where the meteor had indicated. Such things were 
of common occurrence. 

Nothing can be better attested than that young children, and even 
infants, spoke under the inspiration, not in the patois of the district, 
but like all the inspired, in pure French. Jaques Dubois, of Mont¬ 
pellier, attests:—“ I have seen, amongst others, a child of five months 
old, in its mother’s arms, at Quissac, which spoke under agitation, 
interruptedly, but intelligibly, beginning with the regular formula, 

‘ I tell thee, my child.’ It was as if God spoke through its lips.” 
John Yernet, of Bois-Chastel, tells us of a “child thirteen or four¬ 
teen months old, and covered then in the cradle, which had never of 
itself spoken a word, nor could it go alone, when my friends and I 
came in where it was, the child spoke distinctly in French, with a 
voice small like a child, but loud enough to be heard all over the 
room. Like others under inspiration, it exhorted to repentance. 
More than twenty persons were in the room.” 

William Bruquier, of Aubissargues, gives evidence:—“ In the 
village of Aubissargues, I saw three or four small children, between 
three and six years of age, in particular that of James Bousiege, aged 


THE CAMISARS. 


153 


about three, who was taken with the Spirit. . . Another of these little 
infants was Susan Joncquet, between four and five years old . . . she 
spoke louder, in good French, as she could not out of that fit. . . My 
brother Peter, between fifteen and sixteen years of age, also I heard 
in our house several times in his inspirations . .. He spoke on this 
occasion, and also in his other inspirations, good French, though I 
am certain out of them he could not speak one word such !” 

James Brisson, of Brignon, declared:—“ A child of three years old 
I saw taken with the bodily signs, and heard him four or five 
different times exhort urgently to repentance, with a clear, distinct 
voice, and good French, which he could not speak out of the 
ecstasy.” 

David Flotard, of Yigan, says :— I went to see a girl, between six 
and seven years of age, who fell into inspiration before us . . . She 
constantly maintained that it was not she her self framed these bodily 
motions, nor had she the purpose and will to utter these things 
which an i/n/visible overruling power made her to do . . '. To suppose an 
impostor in such an infant, and a thousands others, seemed ridicu¬ 
lous ; to judge the same to be madness or frenzy appeared equally 
extravagant; to say she was drunk, as was foolishly imputed to the 
Apostles, wanted even a colour; to ascribe the urgent preaching of 
repentance and the gospel to the enemy of God with those circum¬ 
stances observable in the inspired to the last breath of their lives, 
and even at the gibbet, was the height of folly.” M. De Caladon, of 
Aulaf, says :—“ Most of the inspired were young people, and very 
ignorant, and those spoke ordinarily best in their revelation; some 
of them told me they could remember nothing said by them in that 
time, others could somewhat, but very little.” 

James Du Bois, of Montpellier, attests :—“ I am very sure I have 
seen sixty other children, between three and twelve years of age, in 
the same condition, {i.e., in the inspiration and accompanying bodily 
agitations); the discourses of all which tended constantly to press 
with ardour an amendment of life, and foretold also several things ... 
Several persons of both sexes I have heard in their ecstasies pro¬ 
nounce certain words which seemed to the standers-by to be some 
foreign language, and in effect he that spoke declared some¬ 
times what his preceding words signified.”* Some of the inspired 
children were seized and imprisoned, and parents were commanded 

* This reads as though it were a description of what took place in Mr. Irving’s congregation, 
and in Port Glasgow, in 1830, See Chaps. XX. , XXI. and XXIII. 


154 


THE CAMISARS. 


on pain of death to forbid their children to fall into these agitations : 
but then the children of Romanists were taken with these agitations, 
and spoke as the others had done, to the great consternation of their 
parents, who ran with them to the magistrates and priests, crying, 
“ Here, cure them yourselves, for we cannot.” M. Bruey, in his His¬ 
tory of Fanaticism, tells us :—“ Persons of good sense, even Catholics 
themselves, knew not what to think of it, to hear little boys and girls 
of the dregs of mankind, who could not so much as read, quote many 
texts of the Holy Scripture.” 

All the inspired agree that their utterances under the inspiration, 
and the bodily agitation that accompanied them, were independent 
of their, volition, and beyond their control. John Cavallier makes 
this asseveration:—“ I here declare solemnly, without any equivoca¬ 
tion whatsoever, by this public act, upon the oath I make of it before 
God, that I am in no wise the framer of those bodily agitations I 
suffer in my ecstasies. I do not move my own self, but am moved by 
a power independent that overrules me ; and for the words that proceed 
from my mouth, I protest, with the same a/wful solemnity, they are 
formed without my intention, and glide forth off my lips without my 
direction, my mind no ways bearing any part in that marvellous opera¬ 
tion by preceding forethought, or any attending will to deliver what I do 
at that instcmt.” 

Durand Fage thus describes his first seizure:—“I was surprised 
with a shivering all over me, and some agitation: the weight upon 
my breast was less than before, (this symptom having preceded the 
agitation), and here I found a gentle breathing springing up within 
me, whereat I was surprised a little, though I made no great reflec¬ 
tion on it at the same time my tongue and lips were of a sudden 
forced to pronounce words with vehemence that I was myself amazed 
to hear, having forethought nothing, and no ways intending to 
speak. The things spoken by me were hortatory of repentance, and 
this lasted but three or four minutes.” 

To the same effect Elias Marion, in deposing to his own experience, 
says: After a month s silent ecstasies, if they might be properly 

so called, it pleased God to loosen my tongue/ and put His word into 
my mouth; as His Holy Spirit had actuated my body to awaken its 
drowsiness, and break down my confidence in it (alluding to his pre¬ 
vious bodily agitations under the inspiration), so it was His pleasure 
to overrule my tongue and lips, and make use of those, my weak 
organs, according to His good will. I will not pretend fully to 


TIIE CAMISARS. 


155 


express what was my astonishment and joy when I felt and heard 
flow through my mouth a stream of holy words, whereof my mind 
was no ways the author, and which ravished my ears to hear it.” 

Of the effect which those inspirations produced upon those who 
were the subjects of them, I will quote only one testimony out of 
many. John Cabanel, of Anduze, testifies:—“Several of those 
persons I saw violently agitated, during the inspiration they had 
great shakings of the whole body .... their exhortations to re¬ 
pentance were urgent. I heard many of those after the inspiration 
ceased, say they could not repeat the things they had said in it. I 
am certain and positive, as of a thing particularly observed by me, 
that the people who had those gifts immediately forsook all sorts of 
vanity and looseness; some who had been debauched became pre¬ 
sently sober and pious, and all those that followed them became also 
more regular, and led exemplary lives.” 

As to the number of the prophets, or inspired persons, M. Bruey, 
tells us, “ there were many thousands of them.” And he admits, 
that the astounding facts recorded of them were proved upon trial, 
and are authenticated by decrees of the Parliament of Grenoble, by 
the orders of the Intendants, by judgments or judicial sentences, 
by verbal proceedings, and other justifying proofs. 

Marshal Yillars, the French general, declares:—“ I have seen 
things of this sort, which I would not have believed, had they not 
occurred under my own eyes; all the women and girls of a whole 
town appeared to be possessed. They trembled and prophesied 
publicly in the streets. One had the boldness to prophesy before 
me for an hour. One of these prophetesses, twenty-seven years of 
age, was taken, about eighteen months ago, before the Bishop of 
Alais, who interrogated her before several ecclesiastics. The creature, 
after having heard what he said, addressed him with a modest air, 
exhorting him no longer to torment the true children of God. She 

then addressed him for an entire hour, in an uncouth language. 

This girl talked both Greek and Hebrew.”* 

* Vie du Maresclial Villars, Tome 1, p. 325. 




156 


ANN LEE. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

ANN LEE AND THE MILLENIAL CHURCH (SHAKERS). 

Dr. Bushnell, in his work, Natu/re and tlie Supernatural, after ad¬ 
verting to the “miraculous gifts” developed among the Camisars, 
“ and by them more or less widely disseminated abroad,” thus briefly 
alludfes to “ a very similar development,” which I regret the limits 
of my work will not permit me to detail at length:—“ About forty 
years after this appearing of the gifts among the Huguenots (Cami¬ 
sars), a very similar development appeared among the Catholic or 
Jansenist population of Paris. Cures began to be wrought at the 
tomb of St. Medard, and particularly of persons afflicted with con¬ 
vulsions.* And as the Jansenists were, at this time, under persecu¬ 
tion at the hands of the Jesuits, and bearing witness, as they 
believed for the truth of Christ, it is not wonderful that they began 
to be exercised much as the Huguenots of the Cevennes had been. 
They had the gift of tongues, the discerning of spirits, and the 
gift of prophesying. These were called Convulsiownaires de Saint 
Medard , because of the ecstatic state into which they seemed to be 
raised.” 

Among the Camisars, or French prophets, as they were called, 
who came over to this country at the beginning of the last century, 
the same “ gifts continued to be manifested, and were also deve- 

* David Hume, in his celebrated Essay on Miracles, remarks concerning those wrought at this 
tomb—“Many of the miracles were immediately proved upon the spot, before judges of 
unquestioned integrity, attested by witnesses of credit and distinction, in a learned age, and on 
the most eminent theatre that is now in the world. Nor is this all. A relation of them was 
published and dispersed everywhere; nor were the Jesuits, though a learned body, supported by 
the civil magistrate, and determined enemies to those opinions in whose favour the miracles were 
said to have been wrought, ever able distinctly to refute or detect them ” And, in a note to tliis 
passage, he addsAll who have been in France, about that time, have heard of the reputation 
of Mons. Heraut, the Lieutenant de Police, whose vigilance, penetration, activity, and extensive 
intelligence, have been much talked of. This magistrate, who, by the nature of his office, is 
almost absolute, was invested with full powers, on purpose to suppress, or discredit, these miracles; 
and he frequently seized immediately, and examined the witnesses and subjects of them; but 
never could reach anything satisfactory against them. . . 

“ The learnin g, genius, and probity of the gentlemen, and the austerity of the nuns of Port-Royal, 
have been much celebrated all over Europe. Yet they all give evidence for a miracle, wrought on 
the niece of the famous Pascal, whose sanctity of life, as well as extraordinary capacity, is well 
known. The famous Racine gives an account of this miracle in his history of Port-Royal, and 
fortifies it with ah the proofs which a multitude of nuns, priests, physicians, and men of the 
world—all of them of undoubted credit—could bestow upon it. Several men of letters, particularly 



THE SHAKERS. 


157 


loped in others who attended their meetings. Among those who 
investigated these gifts, and satisfied themselves of their reality, 
two of the most distinguished were John Lacy, Esq., “a man of 
character and fortune, to whom all concur in giving the highest 
testimony for integrity and piety, and, except in this instance, of 
good sense,” and Sir Richard Bulkeley, “ a man of unimpeachable 
character and some learning.”* Indeed, these gentlemen found 
themselves most unexpectedly the subjects of the inspiration, and 
speaking in it, Mr. Lacy, in particular, in languages of which he was 
either wholly ignorant, or but very imperfectly acquainted. He 
says:—“ As to myself, I know that I do not now so much as 
understand the English of them (i. e., the Latin exhortations) but as 
the inspiration does at the time teach me inwardly the sense of 
them, nor do I at all know the true conjugations, and even yet, when 
I am out of the ecstasy, I am utterly incapable of composing any¬ 
thing of that kind, though upon the utmost deliberation and 

thought.In like manner, there are hundreds in this city 

who can attest that the French I speak at other times is far 
short of what is here delivered in that language. The Greek 
words mentioned in some of these discourses came likewise from 
my mouth, in the moment of pronouncing them, though the words 
I otherwise understood not.”— (Prophetic Warnings, Preface, Part I.) 
Sir Richard Bulkeley also informs us, that he heard Mr. Dutton, 
who did not know one letter of Hebrew from another, “ utter with 
great readiness and freedom complete discourses in Hebrew for 
near a quarter of an hour together, and sometimes much longer.” 
—( Answers to several Treatises, p. 93). 

Young children also spoke and prayed under the inspirations, 

the Bishop of Toumay, thought this miracle so certain, as to employ it in the refutation of 
atheists and free-thinkers. The Queen-Regent of France, who was extremely prejudiced against 
Port-Royal, sent her own physician to examine the miracle, who returned an absolute convert. 
In short, the supernatural cure was so incontestable that it saved, for a time, that famous 
monastery from the ruin with which it was threatened by the Jesuits. Had it been a cheat, it had 
certainly been discovered by such sagacious and powerful antagonists, and must have hastened the 
ruin of its contrivers. Our divines, who can build up a formidable castle from such despicable 
materials; what a prodigious fabric could they have reared from these and many other circum¬ 
stances which I have not mentioned! How often would the great names of Pascal, Racine, 
Amaud, Nicole, have resounded in our ears ?” 

A brief resumd of the history of the miracles wrought at the tomb of the Abb4 Paris, and a 
refutation of the cavils by which Bishop Douglas has sought to weaken the evidence, will be found 
in Howitt’s History of the Supernatural , Vol. II., Chaps. VII. and VIII. 

* Modern Claims to the Extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit Stated and Examined. By the 
Rev. Wm Goode. 



158 


ANN LEE. 


as among the Camisars. Many cases of healing under the spiritual in¬ 
fluence are related by Mr. Lacy, in his Relation of God's dealings 
with him, and in his Warnings, and in particular one of curing 
blindness. Sir B. Bulkeley affirms himself to have experienced the 
healing power, in the cure of grievous maladies, which had defied 
all the skill of his physicians. It is but fair to add that some of 
the predictions given under the inspirations were not fulfilled. 
Whether the explanations given of the failures, by these gentlemen, 
are satisfactory or not, the publication of them was at least a proof 
of their sincerity, and adds to the value.of their testimony in other 
particulars. 

It is not the least singular circumstance, in connection with these 
French and English prophets, that the United Society of Believers, 
or Millennial Church, commonly called Shakers, trace their origin 
to them. Among others in this country who joined them were James 
Wardley and Jane his wife, formerly Friends, living at Bolton, in Lan¬ 
cashire. About the year 1747, a small society was formed without any 
established creed or particular mode of worship, professing perfect re- 
signment to be led and governed, from time to time, as the Spirit 
of God might dictate. James and Jane Wardley conducted their 
meetings. From taking the principal lead at these meetings, Jane 
was called “ Mother.” 

In one of the Society’s printed works, A Summary view of the 
Millenial Church, we read that:—“ Sometimes after assembling 
together, and sitting awhile in silent meditation, they were taken 
with a great trembling, under which they would express the indig¬ 
nation of God against all sin. At other times they were afflicted with 
a mighty shaking, and were occasionally exercised with singing, 
shouting, and leaping for joy at the near prospect of salvation. They 
were often exercised witli great agitations of body and limbs, shaking, 
running, and walking the floor, with a variety of signs and opera¬ 
tions, or swiftly passing and repassing like clouds agitated by a 
mighty wind. No human power could imitate the wonderful opera¬ 
tions with which they were affected under the influence of these 
spiritual signs. It was from these strange exercises that they 
acquired the name of Shakers, or Shaking Quakers. Those who are 
thus exercised, in Shaker language, are described as ‘ under opera¬ 
tions,’ and the inspired, and those who are in direct communication 
with the spirit-world, are called ‘ instruments.’ 

Some will ask'“ Why the inspirations were attended by these 


THE SHAKERS. 


159 


bodily agitations. The same question,” says Mr. Howitt, “ may be 
asked regarding all forms of inspiration since the world began. They 
have attended prophets in all ages, including those of Israel. The 
Pythian priestesses of Greece were agitated by convulsions, styled 
sacred madness, ( maneisai ). There was something that distinguished 
the delivery of the Hebrew prophets. When the prophet went to an¬ 
nounce to Jehu, that he should be king of Israel, the captains at 
table with Jehu, asked, ‘ What wants that mad fellow with thee ?’ 
Or as in the Septuagint, ‘What wants that shaking fellow with thee ?’ 
The saints of the middle ages of the Roman Church, as St. Catherine 
of Sienna, St. Hildergarde, and others, had their cataleptic trances. 
The early Friends were partly called Quakers, because they shook 
and trembled in their delivery. The clairvoyants of to-day, as they 
pass into their peculiar state, exhibit often thfe same appearance as did 
the prophets of the Cevennes. These are symptoms of a spiritual 
possession or inspiration, probably appointed to denote the advent 
and presence of it.” 

In 1758, the Society was joined by Ann Lee, the daughter of an 
honest, hard-working blacksmith. She was born in Manchester in 
1736. Her parents being poor, and having a large family, she was 
not sent to school, but though she could neither read nor write, she 
acquired industrious habits, and “ was early the subject of religious 
impressions, and was often favoured with heavenly visions.” On 
her joining the Society, these impressions returned upon her with 
renewed force. So deep became her convictions of sin, that for three 
days and nights she cried to God without intermission, praying that 
he would give her true desires, and deliver her from the very nature 
of sin. Her sufferings of mind at this time were most intense. She 
felt her soul overwhelmed with sorrow, and when she could no 
longer keep it concealed from observation, she would go out of sight, 
as she says, “ Lest any one should pity me with that pity which was 
not of God.” She adds:—“ In my travail and tribulation, my suf¬ 
ferings were so great, that my flesh consumed upon my bones, 
bloody sweat pressed through the pores of my skin, and I became as 
helpless as an infant. And when I was brought through, and born 
into the spiritual kingdom, I was like an infant just born into the 
natural world. They see colours and objects, but they know not 
what they see. It was so with me; but before I was twenty-four 
hours old, I saw, and I knew what I saw.” 

Her biographer tells us j—“ Ann was wrought upon in this manner 


160 


ANN LEE. 


for the space of nine years, yet with frequent intervals of release- 
ment, in which her bodily strength was sometimes miraculously 
renewed; and, at times, her soul was filled with heavenly visions 
and divine revelations.” The ultimate fruit of all this labour and 
suffering of soul, we learn, was to gradually open her mind to the 
way of God, and the nature of his work; and to purify and fitly pre¬ 
pare her to become a temple of the Christ Spirit. 

The peculiar doctrines and mode of worship of the society with 
which she was associated, led to her being often shamefully ill- 
treated by the mob, and several times imprisoned. Once she was 
dragged out of the* meeting, and cast into a prison, where she was 
kept fourteen days without food, receiving no nourishment but a 
little wine and milk mixed, put into the bowl of a tobacco pipe, and 
surreptitiously conveyed to her by inserting the stem through the 
key-hole, once every twenty-four hours. When taken out of prison, 
her enemies were astonished to see her walk off, looking as well as 
when she entered. She relates that:—“On another occasion, a 
great mob came against me, determined to put an end to my 
existence. They took me into the high road, and ordered me to 
advance. In submission thereto, I made the attempt, but was soon 
knocked down with clubs ; and after I got up, and began to walk, I 
was kicked every few steps for two miles. I then felt almost ready 
to give up the ghost, and was faint with thirst. While I was suf¬ 
fering by the merciless mob, not one friend was allowed to follow 
me. But God, in his mercy, remembered me, and sent a deliverer. 
A certain nobleman, living some distance, who knew nothing of 
what was passing, was remarkably wrought upon in his mind, and 
urged by his feelings to go; but where, or for what cause, he did 
not know. He ordered his servant to fetch his horse immediately. 
The servant went in haste, but the nobleman’s anxiety was so great, 
that he sent a messenger after his servant to hasten him. Having 
mounted his horse, he rode as if it had been to save his own life, as 
he afterwards told me. He came to a large concourse of persons, 
and on being informed what their business was, he rode up to the 
place where I Was, and sharply reproved the mob for their abuse and 
cruel conduct, and dispersed them, and I was restored to my 
friends.” 

Many similar instances of danger and deliverance are recorded. 
At one time:—“ She was accused of blasphemy, and was told that 
her tongue should be bored through with a hot iron, and her cheek 


THE SHAKERS. 


161 


branded. She was brought before four ministers of the Established 
Church, with a view to obtain judgment against her. They asked 
her to speak in other tongues, but she told them that unless she 
could feel the power of God, she could not do that. She was soon 
operated upon, and spoke for four hours of the wonderful works of 
God. Those clergymen were great linguists, and they testified that 
she had spoken in seventy-two different tongues. ,y They then 
advised the mob not to molest her; but this only enraged them more; 
and they decided to stone her to death. But Providence prevented the 
accomplishment of their wicked attempt. Once her own brother was 
determined, he said, to overcome her, and as she was sitting in her 
chair, singing a hymn, he beat her over the face with a staff about 
the size of a broom-handle, till one end of it was much splintered, 
and then began again with the other end. Ann declares that she 
sensibly felt and saw bright rays of glory pass between her face and 
the staff, and felt her breath like healing balsam, so that she felt no 
harm from the blows. During her imprisonment in Manchester, she 
“ saw Jesus Christ in open vision, who revealed to her the most 
astonishing views, and divine manifestations of truth. From this 
time she was received by the Society as a mother in spiritual things, 
and was therefore called by the members “Mother Ann,” and is 
sometimes spoken of as “Ann, the Word.” 

About the year 1733, Ann received a revelation to repair to 
America, where she was told the second Christian Church would be 
established; the colonies would gain their independence, and liberty 
of conscience be secured to all people. “This revelation was 
communicated to the Society, and was confirmed by numerous 
signs, visions, and extraordinary manifestations to many of the 
members; and permission was given for all those of the Society who 
were able, and who felt any special impression on their minds 
so to do, to accompany her.” 

Accordingly, in May, 1774, Ann, with eight companions, all of whom, 
we are told, “ had received spiritual manifestations,” embarked for 
America. Ann declares that she knew by a revelation that God had 
chosen people there. She says :—“ I saw some of them in vision; and 
when I met with them in America, I knew them. I had a vision of Ame¬ 
rica : I saw a large tree, every leaf of which shone with such bright¬ 
ness, as made it appear like a burning torch, representing the Church 
of Christ, which will yet be established in this land.” The same 
vision was also seen by James Whittaker, of whom more hereafter. 

M 


162 


ANN LEE. 


On the voyage, their practice of praising God in songs and dances, 
so enraged the captain, that he threatened to throw them overboard 
if they repeated the offence. Trusting, however, in the Divine pro¬ 
tection, they again went forth to worship Him in the same manner, 
which so enraged the captain, that he attempted to put his threat 
into execution. “ This was in the time of a storm, and the vessel 
sprang a leak, occasioned by the starting of a plank; and the water 
flowed in so rapidly, that though all the pumps were put into use, it 
gained upon us very fast. The whole crew were greatly alarmed, 
and the captain turned as pale as a corpse, and said all would perish 
before morning. But Mother (Ann Lee) retained her confidence in 
God, and said, * Captain, be of good cheer : there shall not a hair of 
our heads perish; we shall arrive safe in America. I just saw two 
bright angels of God standing by the mast, through whom I received 
this promise .’ She then encouraged the seamen, and she and her 
companions assisted at the pumps; when there came a great wave, 
which struck the ship with such violence, that the plank was forced 
into its place, and all were soon released from the pumps.” After 
this, the captain gave them full liberty to worship God according to 
their consciences, and treated them with kindness during the rest of 
the voyage. 

When they landed, being poor, they separated to seek a liveli¬ 
hood; but in 1776, they collected and settled near Albany. At first 
they were viewed with a jealous eye, Mother Ann being thought by 
many in the neighbourhood to be a witch. Here they remained in 
retirement till the spring of 1780, when their number began steadily 
to increase; and they met with the same kind of treatment in the 
new, which they had experienced in the old world. They were 
stoned, whipped, beaten with clubs, and for a time imprisoned by 
the authorities, on the charge of being unfriendly to the patriotic 
cause, because of their testimony against the sinfulness of wars in 
general. Mother Ann was lodged in a jail at Poughkeepsie, a village 
which has since become famous as giving its name to one of the 
most remarkable of spiritual mediums, Andrew Jackson Davis, the 
“ Poughkeepsie seer.” 

In 1787, the Shakers organized their first community, or church, 
at Hew Lebanon, a village about twenty-five miles from Albany. 
This is still their largest society, and is the model and centre of union 
to all the branch societies. Of these, eleven were formed between 
1787 and 1792, each consisting of from one hundred to six hundred 


THE SHAKERS. 


163 


members. Mother Ann’s visions and communications from the spiritual 
world continued till her death, in 1784. “ The most astonishing visions 
and divine revelations were presented to her view, so that the whole 
spiritual world seemed clearly manifested before her.” Similar gifts 
were exercised by many of the leaders and elders of the church. Her 
brother, William Lee, “was richly endowed with spiritual gifts of 
visions and revelations, and many Divine manifestations. He 
abounded in mercy, love, and charity; and his powerful spirit always 

maintained a swift testimony against all sin.To the brethren 

and sisters he said You ought to pass each other like angels. I 
know the condition of souls that have left the body. Where I see 
one soul in the body , I see a thousand in the world of spirits .’ ” 

James Whittaker, who succeeded Mother Ann in the ministry— 
Father James as he was thenceforth called—used when a child to 
accompany his parents to the meetings of James and Jane Wardley. 
He, like William Lee, was one of the original eight who accompanied 
Ann from England. In the account he gives of his early experience, 
he says:—“ At this time I saw, by vision, my own soul with 
Mother’s, (Ann Lee’s,) in America; and I heard all the conversa¬ 
tion that passed between us and the men that put us into prison at 
Albany; and yet I never once thought of my vision; but as soon as 
we were set at liberty, it all came fresh to my mind.” 

Among other anecdotes which serve to show how he was open to 
manifestations from the spirit world, the following are related:— 
“ One Sabbath day, at Harvard, when the Believers were assembled 
together for worship, and were all sitting together in profound 
silence, Father James, under a solemn weight of the power of God, 
suddenly raised both hands, and exclaimed, ‘ Heavens! heavens I 
heavens!’ and instantly the house was shaken, and the casements 
clattered, as though the house had been shaken by a mighty earth¬ 
quake. At another time, under a similar spiritual impression, he 
uttered the words, ‘ Peace! peace! peace! What a peace I feel! 
The peace of the Gospel is worth all the treasures of this world.’ ” 

He gives an account of an intromission into the lower world of 
spirits, which reads like one of Swedenborg’s “ Memorable Relations.” 
I give only the opening passage of it; he says:—“ I believe I was six 
hours last night, in the belly of hell! Indeed, I know I was; and 
I preached to the spirits in prison. I never knew until then what 
that passage of Scripture signifies, which says, ‘ One day with the 
Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ 

m 2 



164 


ANN LEE. 


But now, by what I have seen and felt, I can testify that to a sonl 
that has been in hell but one day, it appears like a thousand years. 
For the horrors of souls in hell are so extreme, and their banish¬ 
ment from God so great, that they cannot measure time.” 

Of John Hocknell, who also came with Ann Lee from England, it 
is said:—“ He was a man of very meek deportment, and was greatly 
gifted in visions and prophecies; he also possessed the gift of heal¬ 
ing.” And of Joseph Meacham, one of the first of those in America 
who received faith in the religious principles of Shakerism, we are 
told:—“ It is considered, by Believers, that his gift of Divine reve¬ 
lation was deeper than that of any other person, excepting Mother 
Ann. Many of the peculiar devotional exercises of the Shakers 
were brought by him from the spirit-world. In the same way, he 
also laid the foundation of the temporal economy of Believers, The 
true relation of man to the animal creation was also, by this means, 
fully established among Believers. . . . Spiritualism itself is not yet 
sufficiently advanced to bear the relation of some incidents that 
occurred in the latter part of the experience of Joseph Meacham 
exhibiting the power which mankind, as lords and rulers of earth, 
will possess over the inferior orders of sentient creatures, when 
themselves shall be redeemed to, and stand in, the Divine order.” 

The foregoing particulars are taken chiefly from the authorised 
Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules, and Regula¬ 
tions, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of Believers in 
Christ's Second Appearing, with Biographies of Ann Lee, 8fc.; a work 
compiled from five or six volumes on the subject, by a committee of 
revision appointed for that purpose. In this work we are further 
told:—“The Shakers hold the Bible to be a record of the most 
Divine angelic ministrations to man. They also believe that the 
state and condition of the seers, prophets, prophetesses, or mediums, 
determined the quantity, and affected the quality of every Divine 
revelation.” And, in a previous chapter, after giving an account of 
some of their peculiar doctrines, jit continues :—“ From what has 
been said in the preceding pages, it will be readily inferred that the 
Shakers do not believe that God ever has appeared, or does now 
appear, to human beings, except through spiritual agencies. These 
have often personated Deity, and men have mistaken them for the 
Supreme Being; as in the case of John, who fell down to worship a 
being who proved to be one of his own brethren, the prophets; of 
Manoah and his wife, who thought they should die because they had 


THE SHAKEKS. 


165 


seen an angel, whom they mistook for God; and of Moses, who 
called the angel that appeared to him, and ministered the law on 
Mount Sinai, God. Whereas the Apostle said, ‘ The law was or¬ 
dained (ministered) by angels in the hand of a Mediator,’ Moses. 
And John declared that no man hath seen God at any time. Christ 
was the highest and most purely spiritual being that ever visited the 
earth. All the preceding ministering spirits who spoke in the name 
of God (and that were ‘called Gods, because,’ as Jesus says, ‘the 
word of God came to,’ and through, ‘ them,’) in every cycle, were 
inferior to Christ, and to His order and sphere, being mediators 
between Him and the earth’s inhabitants in every nation. 

“Thus, previous to the personal appearing of Christ, to Jesus and 
to Ann, He revealed himself through messengers—inferior spiritual 
agents, existing in the intermediate spheres of the spirit-world, 
earthward; and these revealed themselves to man, from sphere td 
sphere. Every cycle or dispensation had its true Church, both in 
the spirit-world and on earth. These existed in a state of rap¬ 
port with each other. The earth Church received its spiri¬ 
tual ministrations from the corresponding Church of the spirit- 
world. (See Heb. xii. 22 and 29). It was the spiritual influx from 
that Church that was the Holy Ghost, or (as it ought to be rendered) 
Holy Spirit; for in the original languages the Holy Spirit is always 
designated by the neuter gender, it. It is the ‘ anointing, blessing, 
or unction ’ of the appointed lead in the Spirit Church.” 

In an account of the Shakers, written by Seth Wells and Calvin 
Green, of the establishment at New Lebanon, the following testimony 
is given of the spiritual gifts and manifestations among them:— 
“ The remarkable supernatural and spiritual gifts showered down 
upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians on the day of Pentecost 
and onward, have not only been renewed in this Church and Society, 
but extensively increased. The gift of speaking in unknown tongues 
has been often and extensively witnessed. The gift of melodious 
and heavenly songs has been very common. The gift of prophecy 
has been wonderful, by putting forth a degree of light and under¬ 
standing never before revealed to mortals. The gift of healing has 
been often witnessed, but not so common as many other gifts.” 

In the Testimony of Christ’s Second Appearing , a volume of 630 
pages, “ Published by the United Society, called Shakers,” we are 
told (in the Preface to the Fourth Edition) that:—“ This order of 
people originated in spiritual and Divine revelation from the hea- 


166 


ANN LEE. 


venly orders above; and they have been continually supported, and 
have advanced in various degrees by an influx of Divine revelations, 
and heavenly ministrations with increasing light, adapted to their 
state up to the present time (1854). But it was foretold by the spirit 
of prophesy, years before the event began, that a wonderful work of 
Divine revelation and heavenly gifts, light, and power, would take 
place in and among this people, in the fiftieth year after the gather¬ 
ing together of their united Society commenced, which would be as 
an antitype of the ancient Jewish jubilee. Accordingly, during the 
year 1838, a most wonderful manifestation of Divine revelation, and 
heavenly light and power, simultaneously commenced in the two 
central societies, and in a few months visited every branch and 
family of the people called Shakers throughout the land.” 

We are further told:—“ This work was attended with marvellous 
operations of Divine power, accompanied with many extraordinary 
signs and wonders. Many were exercised in visions of the spiritual 
world, and of the beautiful order and glories of the heavens; also 
with revelations and discerning of spirits. Many were endowed with 
the gift to hear the melodious songs of the angels, and spirits of the 
just; many beautiful songs were given in this way. Others were 
exercised by inspired gifts of instruction, warning, reproofs, and en¬ 
couragement. These heavenly gifts are adapted to all states and 
circumstances, whereby much new light was revealed on many im¬ 
portant subjects; and many principles which were not fully under¬ 
stood before, were clearly revealed. 

“ Many prophetic gifts were given, foretelling future events, which 
would take place among Believers, and also in the political, provi¬ 
dential, and spiritual orders of the world; and likewise many won¬ 
derful phenomena and convulsions of nature, which have taken 
place, were clearly predicted .... It was frequently foretold, that 
when the extraordinary flowings of these spiritual gifts should in a 
great manner cease among Believers, these same manifestations 
would go into the world, and operate among them in a manner 
adapted to their state. The manner of those spirit manifestations, 
which have been operating, and so rapidly spreading in the world, 
during the last few years, was clearly foretold: ‘ that it would spring 
up in places where, and in manners and ways, that no mortals could 
foresee nor account for.’ That it would confound all natural philoso¬ 
phy and wisdom of man; also that it would progressively spread 
through all nations, and produce the most extraordinary revolution 


THE SHAKERS. 


167 


in the religious and moral state of mankind, that had ever been 
effected since the creation of man. And although much that was 
erroneous would be brought forth, yet much good would be finally 
accomplished to the human race.” 

Under the head of “ Evidences accompanying the Second Appear¬ 
ing of Christ,” a chapter is devoted to spiritual gifts of healing, 
in which several cases are circumstantially narrated and attested. 
At the same time, the writers of the work are careful to remark:— 
“ It was not that miraculous power which operates upon the body, 
but that which purifies and saves the soul from the nature of sin, 
that the truly wise and discerning Believer esteemed the most, yet 
for every operation of the power of God they were thankful, and 
nothing which they received was in vain. And doubtless the end 
was answered for which those miraculous gifts were given, inasmuch 
as they confirmed the faith of the weak, removed the prejudices of 
many who were doubtful, and took away every just ground of ob¬ 
jection from the enemies of the cross of Christ.” 

In a small work published in Philadelphia, in 1843, entitled— A 
Return of Departed Spirits of the highest character of distinction , as 
well as the indiscriminate of all nations into the Bodies of the ‘Shakers,’ 
or ‘ United Society of Believers in the Second Advent of the Messiah ’ 
By an Associate of the said Society ; the writer says:—“ The gifts 
of God have been manifested in this people in a very marvellous 
manner. For a period of many years they have been especially 
favoured with spiritual gifts and operations; among which may be 
mentioned, as most prominent, the gifts of prophecy, speaking with 
unknown tongues, discerning of spirits, and holding communication 
with the spiritual world, very frequently with a rapid whirling and 
violent twitching of the body, which they are unable to repress. We 
have seen numbers in this manner caught up by some invisible 
power, and whirled around the meeting-room at an almost incredible 
rate, some proclaiming the word of the Lord to His people, while others 
would be discoursing in unknown language, and holding converse with 
angels and other heavenly spirits . . . More recently there has been 
another manifestation of God’s divine power towards His peculiar 
people . . . Disembodied spirits began to take possession of the bodies 
of the brethren and sisters; and thus, by using them as instruments, 
made themselves known by speaking through the individuals they 
had got into, after which they were welcomed to Zion to hear the true 
Gospel of Christ. 


168 


ANN LEE. 


“ It must be borne in mind tbat while the brethren and sisters are 
under this influence, they seem unconscious of the fact that they are 
other than the Spirit for whom they are acting; and even when the 
spirits of others have left them, and the return of their own spirit to 
its natural abiding place, brings them to a state of reflection; they 
retain no knowledge of what has transpired, and utter exclamations 
of surprise when apprised of the fact by those who were eye and ear- 
witnesses of the scene.” 

These things are confirmed by the opponents of the Shakers. 
Thus, David R. Lawson, in his Two Years’ Experience among the 
Shakers, (written to expose their principles and practices, published 
1848), says:—“The spirits of the departed of all nations, and of 
every language ever spoken under Heaven, present themselves at 
times to this people. It is often the case that some one of these 
spirits enters into the body of a sister, (the brethren seldom have 
the gifts,) who upon this, if she yields to the influence, loses all con¬ 
trol over her own body, and the spirit manifests itself through 
her, talks in its own language, sings, dances its native dances, or 
quarrels with other spirits of its own nation.” And again:—“ In 
almost every meeting for worship, some of their prophets have a 
communication from the spiritual world.” Of course, Mr. Lawson 
regards all this as imposture and delusion. “ Their communications 
are always characteristic not of the spirit which reveals them, but of 
the person or instrument through whom they are revealed. Un¬ 
grammatical, badly spelt, without punctuation, meagre in style, 
contracted in sentiment. But if it be given through a person of 
brilliant talent, the communication will be proportionably elevated. 
This fact is sufficient to convince every candid person that the 
instrument is the real author, and there is no revelation about it.” 
This is Mr. Lawson’s principal objection. He refers to it again and 
again. I mention this not to discuss the question it involves, but to 
show that not only the facts of modern mediumship, but even its 
difficulties and the objections to it have been anticipated. 

The Millennial Gazette for April, 1856, contains a letter to Robert 
Owen, signed “F. W. Evans, Shaker Tillage, New Lebanon, N.Y.,” 
from which I take the following extracts:— « 

“ The Shakers aim to create a new heaven, as well as a new earth ; 
impelled thereto by the motive power of Revelation alone, which 
quickening the conscience as the primal faculty of the spiritual 
senses when moved upon by the religious element, has resulted 


THE SHAKERS. 


169 


to them in wisdom—not their own, and for which they, as men 
and women, take no credit— supernal, and, as they believe, Divine 
wisdom. 

“ Their initiatory or first purpose was simply from the religious 
plane, as moved by the love of God, the fear of God, the dread of hell, 
and the desire of Heaven—with which they were inspired by spiritual 
intelligences with whom they daily (and often hourly) communed— 
individually to cease from doing evil; i.e., to refrain from all that their 
consciences, when aroused to the highest state of activity by supernal 
influences operating upon them, decided to be contrary to that 
spiritual light by which they were illumined. 

“This light shone back upon their whole past history with an 
intensity not to be appreciated by any except those who have in 
some measure experienced its effects; recalling to the consciousness 
of the persons influenced thereby, so vivid a recollection of every 
particular transgression, error, and sin, against either themselves, 
their fellow-men, or God, during the entire of their former lives, as 
brought the matter just as present with them as at the time of its 
actual commission or perpetration. From the guilt, horror, and 
condemnation which this spiritual retrospection of themselves pro¬ 
duced, their spirit friends distinctly informed them that they would 
never find releasement until they circumstantially narrated, in the 
presence of some supernaturally-appointed person or persons, and as 
a confession to the Divine Being, each and every identical sin, error, 
or transgression, exactly as it occurred, and also made restitution (as 
far as it was in their power) for every wrong committed against a 
fellow being. 

« After obeying these— to them —sacred and divine injunctions, the 
most extraordinary results often followed. Their whole soul would 
be filled with joy unutterable, finding expression in shaking or 
dancing with all their might: shouting or speaking in some language 
with which the person in his or her normal state was perfectly 
unacquainted; and other equally singular and marvellous operations, 
which secured to them from outsiders the appellations of witches 
and wizards—inspired by the devil, &c. 

“ The fact that this inspiration led them to be good to each other, 
and to clothe the naked and feed the hungry, even when they were 
of their own persecutors, has tended gradually to soften the preju¬ 
dices and to puzzle and perplex the orthodoxy of the religious world. 

“ From this time the young Shaker novitiate was inwardly laid 


170 


ANN LEE. 


under the most solemn obligations never to repeat any act which had 
been a subject of his or her confession; forsaking sin and righting 
wrongs being the only form of atonement or repentance toward God 
that the ministering spirits would accept. Again, they were not 
merely to “ cease to do evil,” but were also to “learn to do well,”—to 
practise every active virtue. 

And now an unlooked-for and very unexpected consequence flowed 
from this novel manner of being converted, and of getting religion, 
which distinguished its subjects from all other so-called Christians in 
existence. It was a distinction so palpable that all men could 
easily perceive it, how natural or external soever they might be in 
their own state and condition. They loved one another so genuinely, 
so practically, that each one felt it a privilege and a duty to let every 
other brother and sister possess all that they possessed, and enjoy all 
that themselves enjoyed. They had all things common, and laid 
claim to nothing as private property, whether in chattels, land, or 
houses. They thus learned by experience that the direct spiritual 
religion, was not only to throw all who would embrace it into the 
form and relation of community , but that it was a legitimate, an 
inevitable effect. . . . God the primal cause; Love, the Agent; and 
‘all things common/ the consummation. 

Friend Robert, it is a fact which cannot be called in question 
that eighteen Communities of Shakers are now in existence in the 
United States, all of which have been founded upon the principles, 
and in the manner above briefly set forth. It is also a fact, that some 
of them are more than fifty years old. These all claim to be of 
spiritual origin; to have spiritual direction; to have received, and 
to receive spiritual protection .... Ministering spirits ever have 
watched, and ever will continue to watch over them for good, so long 
as they continue to be their simple and obedient children in millennial 
truths. 

“It appears that you, my friend, are now a Spiritualist. Spiritual¬ 
ism originated among the Shakers of America. It was also to and 
among them, a few years ago, that the avenues to the spirit-world 
were first opened; when for seven years in succession a revival 
continued in operation among that people, during which period 
hundreds of spiritual mediums were developed throughout the 
eighteen societies. In truth, all the members, in a greater or less 
degree were mediums. So that physical manifestations, visions, 
revelations, prophecies, and gifts of various kinds, (of which vo- 


THE SHAKERS. 171 

luminous records are kept,) and, indeed, * divers operations, but all 
by tbe same spirit,’ were as common as is gold in California* 

“ These spiritual manifestations were constituted of three distinct 
degrees. The first had for its object, and was judiciously adapted to 
that end, the complete convincement of the junior portions of the 
associations—junior either in years or in privilege. The second 
had for its object a deep work of judgment—a purification of the 
whole people by spirit agency. Every thought, word, and deed, 
was open to the inspection of the attending spirits ; even the motives, 
feelings, and desires, were all manifest to their inspection. ‘ Judg¬ 
ment began at the house of God .’ The third had for its object a 
ministration of truths—millennial truths—to varions nations, kin¬ 
dreds, tribes, and people in the spirit-world , who were hungering 
and thirsting after righteousness. ‘ These all died in faith, not 
having received the promises; God having provided some better 
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect ;— 

‘ which things the angels desire to look into.’ 

" Spiritualism, in its onward progress, will go through the same 
three degrees in the world at large. As yet it is only in the begin¬ 
ning of the first degree, even in the United States.” 

Spiritual manifestations are regarded by the writer of this letter 
as God’s answer to the heart’s cry of earnest men and women, 
seeking facts, not words, in attestation of “the Word of Life.” He 
concludes that God “ will continue to answer it, as fast as it arises 
from individuals, classes, or nations, until every man and woman 
upon the earth shall be as fully convinced of the following proposi¬ 
tions, as they now are of the existence of the sun.” 

“ That there is a God—an immortality—a spiritual, no less than 
a natural world—and the possibility of a social, intelligent com¬ 
munication between their inhabitants respectively—a time and work 
of judgment, to which all will progress, in either this or the spirit- 
world, and in which each individual will read, from the book of 
his own immortal memory, ‘an account of all the deeds done in 
the body,’ so that he may, if he will, put off the unfruitful works 
of darkness, and lay hold of eternal truth; and thus find an endless 

* In a communication to the Spiritual Telegraph and Firetide Preacher, Nov. 19, 1859, 
Mr Evans remarks:—“For seven years previous to the advent of spiritualism in the world, spirit 
manifestations were doing their work in the Divine order in all the societies of Shakers. And the 
Shakers then constantly predicted its rise and progress in the world, precisely as they have 
occurred up to tliis timeand he considers that “ the Shaker order is the great medium between 
this world and the world of spirits,” 


172 


WESLEY AND THE EARLY METHODISTS. 


progression in faith, virtue, and knowledge, brotherly kindness, and 
love to God and man; or an equally endless progression into the 
bottomless pit of “ the lusts of the flesh and of the mind, that will 
not only ‘war against the soul,’ but will continually separate it 
further and further from the fountain of all goodness.” 


CHAPTER XVII. 

WESLEY AND THE EARLY METHODISTS. 

If required to point out to whom among our countrymen the title 
of Christian Apostle is pre-eminently due, I think I should but 
express the universal judgment of Protestant Christendom in un* 
hesitatingly naming John Wesley. Sore need was there in his 
generation of such a man. The then state of England is described 
as “awfully irreligious.” An easy-going indifference to the claims 
of religion and the needs of the poor permeated the higher and 
the middle classes of society. The fire of Puritanism burned low, 
and the church of the land thought she sufficiently did her duty 
to God and Society in taking care of herself and her tithes; the 
thunderclap of the French Revolution not having yet startled her 
from her slumbers. “The majority of the clergy were ignorant, 
worldly-minded, and irreligious, and many of them scandalized their 
profession by open immorality.” The poor were in a state of practical 
heathenismA mere animal existence was considered as their 
best condition, religious or intellectual instruction was never sup¬ 
posed to require a direction towards them, perhaps thought not 
capable of descending so low in the scale of society. They were 
in a state of the most deplorable ignorance that can be imagined* 
and with that, too generally, in a state of corresponding brutality.”* 
The first impulse towards a better state of things, towards that 
sympathy with, and interest in, the condition of the poor and 
ignorant, which, happily, from that time has gone on steadily in* 
creasing, and towards a religious awakening and earnestness among 
all classes and in all churches, was given by the labours of John 
Wesley and his fellow-workers. 

To this work of preaching the Gospel to the poor—to those who 

* Smith’s Wesley and his Times. 



WESLEY AND THE EARLY METHODISTS. 


173 


were then neglected and uncared for, to colliers and miners, to the 
rudest and roughest of the population, Wesley devoted the best 
energies of his life. He did not confine his gospel ministry to 
sacred times and places, but hallowed all times and places in which 
he moved, by consecrating them to God’s service: travelling day and 
night, preaching in the field, the market-place, in private or public 
rooms, whenever and wherever he could get the opportunity. Re¬ 
ligion to him, was eminently a personal and practical thing, to be 
worked out in the conscience and the life—a quickening of the soul 
by the operation of God’s Holy Spirit co-operating with the in¬ 
dividual will. Hence he always appealed to the hearts of his hearers, 
exhorting men everywhere to repent, and reasoning with them 
concerning temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come; and 
God’s Spirit worked in him and with him. His self-denial, earnest¬ 
ness, and faith, were rewarded with a degree even of immediate 
success, that falls to the lot of but few men, and much of the good 
he did lives after him. 

Wesley was a man of conscience and of Christian courage, and 
had learned the lesson— 

“ Above all, to tliine own self be true.” 

He was a Spiritualist, and dared to avow his spiritualism in the 
midst of the faithless, I had almost said, godless, eighteenth century 
in which he lived. Yes, I repeat it, Wesley was an avowed spiritualist; 
even in the modern restricted sense in which that designation is now 
frequently employed. He, (in common with all who witnessed them) 
believed in the spiritual origin of the strange phenomena at his 
father’s house—the Rectory, Epworth; phenomena exhibiting the 
characteristic movements of objects by invisible agency, apparitions, 
rapping responses, &c., which are found in the spiritual manifesta¬ 
tions of the present day.* 

In his Reply to Middleton’s Free Inquiry , he maintained the con¬ 
tinuance and manifestation of spiritual gifts in the Christian church 
in the first three centuries of its history, and avowed his conviction 
that in the Gospel there was no limitation of them to any age of the 
world. 

He believed in the agency of both good and evil spirits. In his 
Journal, and in the Armmian Magazine, he narrates several instances, 
some under his own observation, of demonic invasion and posses- 

* A full account of the Spiritual manifestations at Epworth will be found in Appendix C. 


174 


WESLEY AND THE EARLY METHODISTS. 


sion; and lie records his “solemn protest” against the violent 
compliment to religion of those who would give up all account of 
witches and apparitions as mere old wives’ fables, affirming this 
opinion to be “ in opposition not only to the Bible, but to the suf¬ 
frages of the wisest and best of men in all ages and nations.” Again, 
in speaking of witchcraft, or commerce with evil spirits, he affirms 
that this belief has its foundation not only in Scripture, “ in abun¬ 
dance of passages, both in the Old and New Testatment,” (as he 
shows by citation of several passages,) but also “ in the histories of 
alleges and all nations throughout the habitable world, even where 
Christianity never obtained;” and adds, “ I cannot believe that the 
whole body of the heathens, for so many generations, were utterly 
destitute of common sense, any more than of common honesty. 
With my latest breath will I bear my testimony against giving up 
to infidels, one great proof of the invisible world: -I mean that of 
witchcraft and apparitions, confirmed by the testimony of all 
ages.” 

On the other hand, Wesley, with equal earnestness, believed and 
preached the ministration of good spirits, and the guardianship of 
angels, in temporal, as well as in spiritual concerns; that especially 
we were, under God, frequently indebted to them, not only for the 
inspiration of holy thoughts and feelings, but for deliverance in 
danger, and for the cure of bodily disease. Many events in his own 
life, as well as in the lives of others, he attributed to their invisible 
guidance and protection. He believed in spiritual visions and pre¬ 
sentiments, and in divine dreams; and, as remarked by Southey, 
“ He related cures wrought by his faith and prayer, which he be¬ 
lieved and represented as positively miraculous.” “ How often are 
spirits with us when we do not think of it!” he exclaims in his 
Journal; and he anticipates and answers the “ cui bono ?” with which 
all narratives of the spiritual kind are commonly met, with the' 
remark, that “ If but one account of the intercourse of men with 
separate spirits be admitted, their (the unbelievers) whole castle in 
the air (deism, atheism, and materialism,) falls to the ground. I 
know no reason, therefore, why we should suffer this weapon to be 
wrested out of our hands.” 

In the last sermon that Wesley wrote, (on Heb. xii., 1,) he re¬ 
marks “ It is a pleasing thought, that some of these human 
spirits, attending us with, or in the room of angels, are of the 
number of those that were dear to us while in the body. 


WESLEY AND THE EARLY METHODISTS. 


175 


‘ Can death’s interposing tide, 

Spirits one in Christ divide ?’ 

.“How much will it add to the happiness of those spirits 

already discharged from the body, that they are permitted to minister 
to those they have left behind ? An indisputable proof we have of 
this in the twenty-second chapter of the Revelations. When the 
apostle fell down to worship the glorious spirit, which he seems to 
have mistaken for Christ, he told him plainly, I am of thy fellow 
servants, the prophets; not God, not an angel, but a human spirit. 
And in how many ways may they minister to the heirs of salvation ? 
Sometimes by counteracting wicked spirits, whom we cannot resist, 
because we cannot see them; sometimes by preventing our being 
hurt by men or beasts, or inanimate creatures. ... It may, indeed, 
be objected that God has no need of any subordinate agents of either 
angelical or human spirits, to guard his children in their waking or 
sleeping hours; seeing He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber 
nor sleep. And certainly He is able to preserve them by His own 
immediate power, without any instruments at all, to supply the 
wants of all His creatures, both in heaven and earth. But it is, and 
ever was, His pleasure not to work by His own immediate power 
only, but chiefly by subordinate means, from the beginning of the 
world. And how wonderfully is His wisdom displayed in adjusting 
all these to each other! so that we may well cry out, ‘ 0 Lord, how 
manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all!” 

In another sermon, speaking of dreams, he observes :—“ We know 
the origin of dreams with some degree of certainty; there can be no 
doubt but that some of then* arise from the present constitution of 
the body,' while others of them are probably occasioned by the 
passions of the mind. Again, we are clearly informed in Scripture, 
that some are caused by the operation of good angels, as others un¬ 
doubtedly are owing to the power and malice of evil angels. From 
the same divine treasury of knowledge we learn, that on some 
extraordinary occasions, the Great Father of Spirits has manifested 
himself to human spirits, in (breams and visions of the night. But 
which of all these arise from natural, which from supernatural 
influence, we are many times not able to determine.” And he 
proceeds to show, that as dreams are “ a kind of digression from 
our real life,” so “ there is a near resemblance between these transient 
dreams and the dreams of (our mortal) life.”* 

* See also his Sermon on Heb. i., 14, a portion of which is quoted in page 117. 



176 


WESLEY AND THE EARLY METHODISTS. 


In order to weaken the force of Wesley’s testimony in favour of 
Spiritualism, it is common to say, “Ah! yes, Wesley was a good 
man, but he was so exceedingly credulous.” Southey speaks of his 
«voracious credulitybut the only evidence offered in support of 
this statement that I have met with amounts to this, that Wesley 
was as willing to accept evidence in proof of spiritual agency as his 
critics are to reject it. True, he did not at once set aside a well- 
attested narrative of spiritual experience, because he could not fully 
understand it. “ This,” he says, “ is no considerable objection to me, 
as my understanding is not the adequate measure of truth. That 
he was never deceived or imposed upon in these matters, I will not 
undertake to assert, but I believe that with all their sagacity, these 
critics are far more frequently imposed upon, especially by them¬ 
selves, deceived by their own “ voracious credulity ” in the opposite 
direction. They will welcome any theory, however inadequate, ac¬ 
cept any explanation, however far-fetched, rather than believe in the 
intelligence and honesty of a fellow-christian, when his testimony to 
facts would establish the reality of spiritual agencies operating in 
the midst of us. Offer them as an alternative to this, an hypothesis 
which will enable them either to deny the facts in question, or to 
explain them in a way that shall exclude all spiritual agencies in the 
case, and then their power of deglutition is quite astounding. 

Wesley was not so easily duped as these parties would have us 
believe; he could distinguish between facts and fancies, between 
physical excitement and spiritual operation, and detect artifices to 
enlist his sympathies as readily as most men. He knew, not only 
how to observe facts, but how to reason upon them, as his critics 
may discover if they will take the trouble to refer to his “ Compen¬ 
dium of Logic;” and in doing so, they will certainly do themselves 
no harm. Those who know what Wesley was, and what he did, will 
know that he was not a dreamer but a worker; not a lover of extra¬ 
vagancies, but a lover of order; that his was an orderly, noble, 
Christian life; and that in shrewdness and sober good sense few men 
have been his superior. 

The religious revival, under Wesley’s preaching, presented the 
same evidence of a spiritual action od the bodies of many of those 
“ convicted,” as we have seen in the late revival in Ireland and other 
places. Men and women were struck to the earth, or were seized 
with tremblings and convulsions, declaring that they felt a pain as 
though pierced with a sword, which made them cry out with an- 


177 


WESLEY AND THE EARLY METHODISTS. 

guish. Of some, we read that “ They were in strong pain, both their 
souls and bodies being well nigh torn asunder.” Some of the 
stricken ones, involuntarily, and even against their will, would cry 
out in unpremeditated language; some few with laughter and pro¬ 
fanity, but the greater number in prayer for mercy and deliverance 
from sin. Nor was it merely those predisposed by sympathy and 
expectation who were stricken; as in the Ulster revival—some who 
disbelieved and jeered at the stricken were struck themselves. For 
instance, Wesley tells us of one who “ Had been remarkably zealous 
against those that cried out and made a noise, being sure that any of 
them might help it if they would. And the same conclusion she was 
in still, till the moment she was struck through as with a sword, and 
fell trembling to the ground. She then cried aloud, though not 
articulately, her words being swallowed up. In this pain she con¬ 
tinued twelve or fourteen hours, and then her soul was set at liberty.” 
And again : “ I called on one, who being at Long Lane on Monday, 

was exceedingly angry at those that ‘ pretended to be in fits,’ par¬ 
ticularly at one who dropped down just by her. She was just going 

to kick her out of the way,’ when she dropped down herself, and 
continued in violent agonies for an hour. Being afraid, when she 
came to herself, that her mother would judge of her as she herself 
had judged of others, she resolved to hide it from her; but the mo¬ 
ment she came into the house she dropped down in as violent an 
agony as before. I left her weary and heavy laden under a deep 
sense of the just judgment of God.” 

These things being misrepresented to Wesley’s coadjutor, Whit¬ 
field, occasioned in his mind a prejudice against them; but they 
occurred under his own preaching also. Thus, in Wesley’s Journal, 
we read that “ No sooner had he (Whitfield) begun to invite all sin¬ 
ners to believe in Christ, than four persons sunk down close to him 
almost in the same moment. One of them lay without either sense 
or motion; a second trembled exceedingly; the third had strong 
convulsions all over his body, but made no noise unless by groans; 
the fourth, equally convulsed, called upon God with strong cries and 
tears. From this time I trust we shall all suffer God to carry on His 
own work in the way that pleaseth Him.”* 

* It would lie easy to multiply instances of tlie same phenomena under different preachers, 
during this revival. Men, women, and children were alike the subject of them. At Everton, 
under Mr. Berridge’s preaching, as described by an eye-witness, “The greatest number of those 
who fell were men. . . . Some sinking in silence fell down as dead; others with extreme noise 
and violent agitation. I stood on a pew seat, as did a young man in the opposite pew—an 

N 


178 


WESLEY AND THE EARLY METHODISTS. 


Would to God that we all did so! We then should be much 
nearer the Millennium than we are; but our fingers are always 
itching to tinker the handiwork of Providence. We can’t trust 
God’s facts alone, just as they are, to speak their own language; that 
is generally the hardest thing we find to do, the last lesson that we 
learn. We must put our gloss upon them; show that their ten¬ 
dencies are evangelical, and fit in exactly to our articles and confes¬ 
sions; or, if we can’t make them do this, why then—God’s facts, we 
find, come from the Devil. Sometimes we can’t see the use of a par¬ 
ticular set of facts, and then we affirm that they are not; at other 
times they are too mean, too vulgar for us, they shock our delicate 
sensibilities. We are ashamed that they should go naked as God 
made them, so we clothe them with our conventionalities, put them 
into a canonical suit, or a court dress, and trim them up to suit our 
dainty fancies, determined that if we must have them, at all events, 
we will bring them up respectably. 

O, brothers, in all seriousness, let us not build up the walls of our 
small systems and petty conceits to bar out God’s facts! Let us 
pray that the spiritual sight within us may be so strengthened that 
we may have no need to put, as it were, a green shade before our 
eyes to temper and colour the light of heaven to suit their morbid 
state! In small, as well as in great things, there is need that we, 
not alone in the language of the lip, but still more in the habits of 
the life, breathe forth the devout prayer—“ Father, Tliy will be done.” 

able-bodied, fresh, healthy countryman; but in a moment down he dropped with a violence 
inconceivable The pew seemed to shake with his fall. I heard afterwards the stamping of 
his feet, ready to break the boards, as he lay in strong convulsions at the bottom of the pew.” 
Again, while Mr. Hicks was preaching at Wrotlingswortli:—“Fifteen or sixteen persons felt 
the arrows of the Lord, and dropped down.”— Smith’s Wesley and his Times. 

'.Vwlv. ’s views on what may be called the philosophy of the matter may be seen in the following 
extract from his Journal:— “The danger u-as to regard extraordinary circumstances too much, 
such as outcrys, convulsions, visions, trances, as if these were essential to the inward work, so that 
it could not go on without them. Perhaps the danger is to regard them too little; to condemn 
them altogether; to imagine they had nothing of God in them, and were a hindrance to His 
work. Whereas, the truth is I. God suddenly and strongly convinced many that they were 
lost sinners; the natural consequences whereof were sudden outcries and strong bodily convulsions. 
XI. To strengthen and encourage them that believed, and to make. His work more apparent, He 
favoured several of them with divine dreams, and others with trances or visions. III. In some of 
these instances, after a time, nature mixed with grace. IV. Satan likewise mimicked this work 
of God in order to discredit the whole work; and yet it is not wise to give up this part auy more 
than to give up the whole. At first it was doubtless wholly from God. It is partly so at this day; 
and he will enable us to discern how far, in every case, the work is pure, and where it mixes or 
legenerates.” 

On this subject, see (and it is well worth seeing and reading) The Revival: by W.M. Wilkinson. 

Chapman &. Hall, 


SWEDENBORG. 


179 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

SWEDENBORG, AND THE CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

The Rev. H. Weller, author of The Conflict of Ages Ended, says:—• 
“We contend that open vision is the normal condition of the Church; 

that it must be in the Church, or the Church is dead.How, 

open communion is nothing more than a perception of the presence 
of the Lord and His holy Angels; and this conscious communion 
must be kept alive in the Church, or it will decay, and the world 
gain the mastery.” It is at least certain that the times when the 
Churches have most fully realized their privileges in this respect, 
have corresponded with the periods of their highest state, and most 
unmixed and active usefulness. This is probably the chief reason 
why the earliest times of the churches have generally been their best 
and purest. They have then been most directly and fully open to all 
the quickening influences of the higher world. Their nobler facul¬ 
ties have thus been called into play, their hearts have been warmed 
by the fire of a divine love; and, filled with thoughts and purposes of 
good to man, and with a self-denying zeal, they have entered on their 
mission. It is with churches as with individuals—heaven lies about 
them in their infancy; they behold the light, and whence it flows; 
but soon shades of the prison-house begin to close around them; the 
divine vision fades into the light of common day, and they feel all 
the 


“ Blank misgivings of a creature 
Moving about in worlds not realized.” 

The Church declines into a sect, and ere long, “ Hew Presbytery is 
but Old Priest writ large.” 

Dr. J. J. G-. Wilkinson, a writer whose treatises, according to 
Emerson, “ throw all the contemporary philosophy of England into 
the shade;” has remarked, that:—“ Perhaps with the exception of 
Protestantism, there is not a faith recorded in the world’s history, 
but has leant upon supernatural revelations, and these the more 
bright and frequent in proportion as we approach the primitive 
ages.” 

Even this possible exception, however, is somewhat doubtful, and 
•an be admitted only with considerable qualification. Hot a few of 

n 2 



SWEDENBORG. 


180 

the most eminent Protestant Reformers and Divines, as I trust I 
have in some measure shown, have “ leant upon supernatural revela¬ 
tions,” and it may be added that many of the reformed churches 
whose influence has been most strongly marked, have claimed 
for themselves a distinctive spiritual origin, and that their early 
histories contain frequent narratives and averments of the spiritual 
aid by which they were sustained. 

We find the founders of these reformed churches persistently 
affirming that they received visions and revelations, that they were 
spiritually inspired and strengthened, that the interiors of their 
minds were opened to perceive spiritual realities, and sometimes, 
that they were intromitted into the spiritual world, and permitted to 
hold converse with its inhabitants. 

The sceptic may scoff at all such statements, but the believer in 
the truth of the Bible-narratives, and the student of human nature, 
who feels the wonder and mystery with which all life is environed, 
should pause, and think, ere in relation thereto they pronounce the 
word “ impossible.” Doubtless madmen and impostors have claimed 
for themselves these spiritual endowments, butno explanation is so 
bald and empty as that which finds in lunacy and knavery thejmotive 
power to sway the hearts and understandings of mankind. But 
whether these pretensions be true or false, it is at least true, that 
they have been entertained and avowed by men of vigorous mind and 
earnest soul, and accepted by la'rge bodies of disciples, not inferior in 
capacity, attainment, and culture to their contemporaries. This 
itself is a significant phenomenon, and evidences that a belief in 
immediate spiritual action upon our world, through mortal media, 
underlies much of our religious faith, and influences, though often 
indirectly, and unconsciously, the thoughts and conduct of men, 
who in other respects are of widely different character and creed. 

Into the truth or falsehood of the respective religious systems which 
these men and women have taught, it is not my purpose to enter, 
even were I qualified to judge thereof; it lies altogether beyond the 
scope of the present inquiry, but it may be pointed out that the 
belief in the spiritual origin of a system, does not necessarily imply 
a belief in its truth; nor is spiritual inspiration synonomous with 
spiritual infallibility. Our spiritual perceptions when opened, and 
our understandings when illumined by influx of celestial, yea, 
even of divine wisdom, must still be limited and imperfect. The 
absolute and perfect truth can dwell only with and in the Being who 


SWEDENBORG. 


181 


is Himself the Absolute and Perfect. Inspiration, too, is various in 
its degrees, the majestic tones of the organ cannot be breathed 
through a whistle; the light of heaven itself is refracted and tinged 
by the media through which it passes. CMen may be inspired with 
just that kind and measure of truth which they are best fitted to 
receive and impart to others, and no more. A truth, too, may be 
presented in undue proportion in relation to other truths, or be 
wrenched away from the body of truth to which it belongs. The 
body of truth is a broken body; in its complete form, its perfect 
symmetry, its dazzling beauty, mortal men know it not, and could 
not recognize the heavenly vision; glimpses of its presence, and 
inspirations of its spirit are all to which the most gifted of our race 
have yet attained. 

Seers, Prophets, and men largely endowed with spiritual gifts, 
are the instruments by which God sustains the strength and vitality 
of His church, and guides the religious instincts of his rational 
creatures. By their living spiritual fire, and their fresh experiences, 
they re-animate the cold and faithless times, and in the place of 
traditional theology and lifeless churches, the newly awakened 
spiritual life forms to itself a new body, in which it may grow, and 
by which it can act upon the world around : the new wine is put into 
new bottles, and, for a time, both are preserved. 

Perhaps the greatest Christian seer and revealer of spiritual things 
since the days of the Apostles, has been Emanuel Swedenborg : 
truly a man upon whose like we shall not soon look again; eminent 
in many ways, possessing a completeness of mind and a rounded 
symmetry of character which it would be difficult to parallel. It is 
common (alas! that it should be so) to regard ignorance and fanati¬ 
cism as the natural concomitants of religious earnestness; and 
especially so, if associated with professions of deeper spiritual 
experiences, and with a relation to the eternal world of a more im¬ 
mediate and intimate kind than men of ordinary minds are conscious 
of in their own personal history; or than is familiar to the society in 
which they move. To those who think thus, I would specially 
recommend the study of Swedenborg—not his books only, but him¬ 
self; they will find him an enigma which upon their principles it 
will be hard to solve. 

I hope the slight sketch of Swedenborg I am about to give may 
lead the reader to seek a fuller acquaintance with him; he will find 
ample materials for doing so in the excellent biography of him by 


182 


SWEDENBORG. 


Dr. Wilkinson, or in the later and cheaper one by Mr. White, who 
is, I hear, engaged upon a new edition, which will be the most 
complete of all those before the public. 

Swedenborg was the son of a Lutheran Bishop, and was born at 
Stockholm, in 1688. He received the best education that the times 
and his country afforded. At 22 years of age he took his degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy, at Upsal, and shortly after, set out on his 
travels in England and the Continent. During this time he wrote 
letters to a friend, detailing the newest discoveries in science, and 
sent home models of all such inventions as he thought might be 
useful to his country. In 1716, he accompanied his friend, Polheim, 
the Swedish mathematician, on a visit to Charles XII., who 
was so well pleased with him that he appointed him Assessor of the 
Board of Mines. Besides editing a magazine, he now began pub¬ 
lishing various scientific treatises ;—on Algebra; on the Longitude; 
on a Decimal system of Money and Measures : on the Earth and the 
Planets; on the Depth of the Sea, and on the Tides ; and on Docks y 
Sluices, and Salt Works. 

In 1721, he visited Holland, where we again find him publishing 
several small works on Natural Philosophy, and the application of 
mechanics to Docks, Dykes, and Shipping. To improve his know¬ 
ledge of mining, he left Amsterdam for Leipsic, that he might 
inspect the different mines and smelting works on his route. At 
Leipsic, and at Hamburgh, he published. Miscellaneous observations 
connected with the Physical Sciences. To this work, M. Dumas, the 
French chemist, ascribes the origin of the modern science of crystal¬ 
lography. In 1724 he was invited to accept the Professorship of 
Mathematics in the University of Upsal, but declined the honour. 
Ten years later, we find him publishing Philosophical and Mineral 
Works, in three folio volumes. In the first part of this book, entitled 
The Principia, he seems to have anticipated some of the most im¬ 
portant discoveries in modern astronomy, chemistry, and magnetism. 

This work attracted considerable attention to its author. The 
Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburgh appointed him a corres¬ 
ponding member of their body; and the Pope did him the honour 
of inserting the title of his book in that catalogue of excellent works, 
the Index Expurgatorius. In 1740, Swedenborg published his 
Economy of the Animal Kingdom; and in 1745, The Animal King - 
dom. Emerson says of the former of these works, that it is “ One 
of those books which by their sustained dignity of thinking, is an 


SWEDENBORG. 


183 


honour to the human race,’” and of the latter, that it, “ Is a book of 
wonderful merits. It was written with the highest end, to put 
science and the soul, long estranged from each other, at one again. 
It was an anatomist’s account of the human body in the highest 
style of poetry. Nothing can exceed the bold and brilliant treatment 
of a subject usually so dry and repulsive.” And Coleridge, in 
commenting on certain portions of it (Sections 208—214) observes : 
—-“I remember nothing in Lord Bacon superior, few passages 
equal, either in depth of thought, or in richness, dignity and felicity 
of diction, or in the weightiness of the truths contained in these 
articles.” Of his works generally, Coleridge says:—“ So much, even 
from a very partial acquaintance with the works of Swedenborg I car 
venture to assert, that as a moralist, Swedenborg is above all praise, 
that as a naturalist, psychologist, and theologian, he has strong and 
varied claims to the gratitude and admiration of the professional and 
philosophical student.” In a note dated “ 22nd. Sept., 1821, High- 
gate,” he further says:—“ Oh thrice happy should we be, if the 
learned and the teachers of the present age, were gifted with a similai 
madness, a madness, indeed, celestial and flowing from a divine mind.” 

In Swedenborg’s next work, On the Worship and Love of God; 
his various teachings are gathered up in a narrative and pic¬ 
torial form; but The Animal Kingdom may be regarded as his 
last great scientific work. The first book of his life’s history—itk 
mere scientific phase, here closes in the 58th year of his age. 
“Carefully disciplined by thought and investigation in the outer 
world, through a long series of laborious years, the curtain which 
separated the seen from the unseen was, for him, drawn aside, and 
his prepared eyes saw in clear sun-light, those mysteries of life and 
spirit which the best and wisest of men have most ardently desired 
to see.”* 

Swedenborg, in one of his letters, written 1769, says:—“I have 

* Swedenborg’s writings, however, furnish evidence that the opening of his spiritual sight had 
been commenced long previous, that it had been brought on by degrees, even as after this, it was 
plainly gradual and progressive. Thus Swedenborg tells us, that years before the time when 
spirits began to speak witli him viva voce, he had seen flames of different sizes, and of different 
colour and splendour, and that so often, that for several months whilst writing a certain work 
(supposed by Dr. Tafel to be that On the Worship and Love of God) scarcely a day passed ill 
which these did not appear before him. 

Possibly, some may think these appearances were simply the odic light and flame, the existence 
of which Reichenbach has since demonstrated; but, in addition to this, in his Spiritual Diary , 
and in the Fourth Part of his Animal Kingdom, Swedenbobg speaks, not only of much informa¬ 
tion given to him in orderly and instructive dreams; but also of many visions that he received; aa 


184 


SWEDENBORG. 


been called to a holy office by the Lord himself, who most graciously 
manifested himself to me, his servant, in the year, 1743, when he 
opened my sight to a view of the spiritual world, and granted me 
the privilege of conversing with spirits and angels, which I enjoy 
to this day. From that time, I began to print and publish various 
arcana that have been seen by me, or revealed to me ; as respecting 
heaven and hell, the state of man after death, the true worship of 
God, the spiritual sense of the Word, with many other most im¬ 
portant matters conducive to salvation and true wisdom.” He 
speaks of this privilege as connected with, and in some measure 
dependent on certain peculiar powers of respiration with which he 
was gifted. He writes:—“My inspiration has been so formed by 
the Lord, as to enable me to breathe inwardly for a long period of 
time, without the aid of the external air; my respiration being 
directed within, and my outward senses, as well as actions, still 
continuing in their vigour, which is only possible with persons who 
have been so formed by the Lord. I have also been instructed that 
my breathing was so directed, without my being aware of it, in order 
to enable me to be with spirits, and to speak with them.* 

Swedenborg now resigned his assessorship that he might devote 
himself wholly to the mission to which he believed the Lord had 
called him; (the King however in consideration of his valuable and 
faithful services for thirty-one years continued to him the whole of his 
salary, though by his own special request no addition to his rank 
or title was conferred on him) and from this time forth he pro¬ 
fessed to be in the constant exercise of this faculty, with scarce any 
suspension or intermission to the day of his death. Hor did ho 
assert this as any figure of speech, he always speaks of himself as 
being really and actively present in the midst of the spirit-persons 
and scenes which he described. He says:—“To me it has been 
granted to be in both spiritual and natural light. at the same 
time; and hereby I have been privileged to see the wonderful things 
of heaven, to be in company with angels just as I am with men.” 

well as of changes of state while he was writing, and a peculiar extraordinary light in the writing; 
—of spirits influencing him “ as sensibly as if they appealed to the bodily sensesof “words 
addressed to me in early morning,”—of being “ commanded to write,”—and of there “ happening 
wonderful things in the night between the first and second of July,” when things “were foretold 
to me in a wonderful manner on that occasion.” &c. 

* I must refer the reader to Swedenbokg’s Animal Kingdom for an exposition of the philosophy 
of respiration, and of the correspondence of respiration with thought. I hare given some further 
facts in illustration of the question in an article on “Internal Respiration,” in the Spiritual 
Magazine, No. 5, Vol. II. 


SWEDENBORG. 


185 


And again:—“I am aware that many who read the following pages 
and the Memorable Relations annexed to the chapters (in The True 
Christian Religion) will believe that they are the fictions of the 
imagination, but I protest in truth they are not fictions, but were 
truly done and seen; not seen in any state of mind asleep, but in a 
state of full wakefulness; for it has pleased the Lord to manifest 
himself unto me; he has opened the interiors of my mind and spirit, 
by virtue of which privilege it has been granted me to be in the 
spiritual world with angels, and at the same time in the natural 
world with men, and this now (1771) for twenty-eight years.” 

There is a peculiar earnestness and solemnity in Swedenborg’s as¬ 
severations on this subject; and while he maintained with firmness 
the reality of his communion with the spiritual world, and was 
always open to furnish evidence of its truth, when the occasion 
seemed to him to require it, of which his biographers furnish several 
instances; there was yet an utter absence of all boasting and dis¬ 
play. When his friend Count Hopken, represented to him that it 
would be better to omit from his writings the “ Memorable Rela¬ 
tions ” of his spiritual experiences, of which ignorance made only a 
jest and a derision; Swedenborg replied, that this did not depend 
upon him; that he was too old to sport with spiritual things, and 
too much concerned for his eternal happiness to give in to such 
foolish notions. Again, when the sacrament was administered to 
him just before his death, (on the very day he had predicted) the 
clergyman who administered it, abjured him solemnly since he had 
now nothing more to expect from the world which he was so soon 
about to leave for ever, in justice to the world, to publish the truth 
in relation to the matters he had advanced, and to recant either the 
whole or a part of what he had written. Upon hearing this, Swe¬ 
denborg raised himself in bed, and said with great earnestness, “ As 
true as you see me before you, so true is everything that I have 
written. I could have said more had I been permitted. When you 
come into eternity, you will see all things as I have stated and des¬ 
cribed them, and we shall have much to discourse about them with 
each other.” 

In estimating the credibility of these statements, we must of 
course consider the character of Swedenborg, and the estimation in 
which he was held by those who had the best opportunities of know¬ 
ing him. These, all agree, that he was a man of straightforward, 
child-like simplicity, and utterly incapable of deceit. Count Hopken 


186 


SWEDENBORG. 


says:—“I have not only known him these two-and-forty years, 
but also some time since daily frequented his company. I do not 
recollect to have known any man of more uniformly virtuous cha¬ 
racter.He was certainly a pattern of sincerity, virtue, and 

piety, and at the same time, in my opinion, the most learned man in 
this kingdom.” Another who knew him well, testifies of him, that 

he always spoke the truth on every little matter, and would not 
have made an evasion though his life had been at stake.” In con¬ 
firmation of this statement of his rigid adherence to the literal 
truth “in every little matter,” it may be mentioned that in 1769, he 
went to Paris, with the intention of printing there his “ True Chris¬ 
tian Religion” The censor of the Press, M. Chevreuil, informed 
him, on application, that a tacit permission would be granted, but 
the title must say, Printed at London , or, at Amsterdam. Sweden¬ 
borg refused to concur in this evasion; and the work was, bona fide, 
printed at Amsterdam. This anecdote, says Mr. White, was re¬ 
ceived from M. Chevreuil himself. 

But if Swedenborg was not a deceiver, may he not himself have 
been deluded the victim of some peculiar form of hallucination ? 
Of that, we must judge from his character and writings, bearing in 
mind his age, his previous training, the mathematical and scientific 
quality of his genius, his methodical habits, and the orderly, self- 
consistent nature of the disclosures concerning the spiritual world 
which he has made. I think these will hardly comport with any 
euch conclusion. 

Independent too of the evidence from his own strict integrity, his 
mental characteristics, and the internal evidence of truth which 
his narratives present; w r e have other most convincing proofs of 
his intercourse with the world of spirits, of which one or two in¬ 
stances may be cited. 

The Prince of Prussia was brother to the Queen of Sweden, and 
shortly after his death, Swedenborg being at court, the Queen 
perceiving him, said, “ Well, Mr. Assessor, have you seen my bro¬ 
ther?” He answered, “Ho;” whereupon she replied, “If you 
should see him, remember me to him.” In saying this, she did but 
jest. Eight days afterwards, Swedenborg came again to court, but 
so early that the Queen had not left her apartment, where she was 
conversing with her maids of honour and other ladies of the 
court. Swedenborg did not wait for the Queen’s coming out, but 
entered directly into her apartment and whispered in her ear. 



SWEDENBORG. 


187 


The Queen, struck with astonishment, was taken ill and did not 
recover for some time. After she was come to herself, she said to 
those about her, “There is only God and my brother who can 
know what he has just told me.” She owned that he had spoken 
of her last conversation with the Prince, the subject of which was 
known to themselves alone. Among others who relate this anec¬ 
dote is M. Thiebault, a French savant of the school of Voltaire, 
who had it from the Queen herself, M. Merian, and other members 
of the Academy, being present. The Baron de Grimm, an avowed 
atheist, in relating it, passes this judgment on it:—“This fact is 
confirmed by authorities so respectable, that it is impossible to deny 
it; but the question is how to believe it.” How, indeed, on his 
theory of materialism P It is evident such a fact and such a theory 
could not logically stand together. 

The following is narrated by J. H. Jung Stilling :—“ About the 
year 1770, there was a merchant in Elberfeld with whom, during 
seven years of my residence there, I lived in close intimacy. 
He spoke little; but what he said was like golden fruit on a 
salver of silver. He would not have dared for all the world to 
have told a falsehood. His business requiring him to take a jour¬ 
ney to Amsterdam, where Swedenborg at that time resided, and 
having heard and read much of this strange individual, he formed 
the intention of visiting him. He therefore called upon him, and 
found a very venerable-looking, friendly old man, who re¬ 
ceived him politely, and requested him to be seated. Explaining 
his errand, and expressing his deep admiration of Swedenborg’s 
writings, he desired that he would give him a proof of his inter¬ 
course with the unseen world. Swedenborg said, ‘ Why not P most 
willingly.’ The merchant then proceeded to tell that he had for¬ 
merly a friend, who studied divinity at Duisburg, where he fell into 
a consumption, of which he died. Visiting this friend a short time 
before his decease, they conversed together on an important topic. 
The question he then put to Swedenborg, was, ‘ Can you learn from 
the student what was the subject of our discourse at that time P* 
Swedenborg replied, ‘ We will see: what was the name of your friend ?’ 
The merchant told his name, and Swedenborg then requested him 
to call in a few days. Some days after, the merchant went again to 
see Swedenborg, in anxious expectation. The old gentleman met 
him with a smile; and said, ‘ I have spoken with your friend; the 
subject of your discourse was the restitution of all things .’ He then 


188 


SWEDENBORG, 


related to the merchant, with the greatest precision, what he, and 
what his deceased friend, had maintained. The merchant turned 
pale; for this proof was powerful and invincible.” 

M. Springer, for many years the Swedish Consul at the port of 
London, and the intimate friend of Swedenborg, declares:—“All 
that he has related to me concerning my deceased acquaintances, 
both friends and enemies, and the secrets that were between us 
almost surpass belief.” And the celebrated Emanuel Kant, though 
at first strongly prejudiced against all belief in spiritual intercourse, 
yet on finding a strong prima facie case made out in favour of 
Swedenborg, investigated the matter thoroughly, and came to 
the conclusion that some of the cases related of Swedenborg’s spiri¬ 
tual intercourse are so well established as “ to set the assertion respect¬ 
ing Swedenborg’s extraordinary gift out of all possibility of doubt.”* 

Those who would make themselves fully acquainted with Sweden¬ 
borg’s representations of the spiritual world, must study his Heaven 
and Hell, his “ Memorable Relations” in The True Christian Religion , 
and his Spiritual Diary. Of the last named work, his biographer, 
Mr. White, says:—“The Diary, as a work, is perfectly unique, for 
in no literature can we find its counterpart. We have in it, for 
twenty years, an almost daily record of Swedenborg’s spiritual states 
and temptations; his interviews and conversations with angels, 
spirits, and devils; and accounts of their pleasures, punishments, 
and thoughts. No one who makes an intimate acquaintance with 
this Diary will ever after allow a shadow of doubt to cross his mind 
as to the candour and truth of Swedenborg; for in every page, he 
will perceive that quiet and solemn earnestness which belongs alone 
to the upright and honest in heart. In its whole range of experience, 
he will detect no vanity, shuffling, double-dealing, or anything in¬ 
consistent with his published works; but all is straightforward, 
open, and unreserved, as truth itself. Although written in the 
quietude of his own study, and for his own eye and use alone, he 
could not have been more ingenuous and sincere had the whole 
universe been looking down upon its pages.” George Dawson re¬ 
marks of the same work, that:—“ He had found the Spiritual Diary 
bo quaint, so undesignedly witty, so awfully wise, such a sublime 
poem of all the ways, and habits, and customs of men, that its like 

* See Kant’s Letter to Madame de Knoblock, August 10th, 1758, quoted in Noble’s Appeal, 
from Darstellung des Lebens und Charakters Immanuel Kant's, von Luduig Ernst Borowski, 
von Kant selbst genau rividirt und berichtigt. 


SWEDENBORG. 


189 


was not to be found. It was theological, but thoroughly practical. ... 
He knew not a book so terrible to a man who did wrong, as this 
bedlam be-called Diary of Swedenborg. It was a book that burnt 
like fire all the foolishness and rottenness of life. It made a man 
who was indulging in wrong-doing, tremble at the thought of passing 
from this world into eternity. It was the severest and terriblest 
vindication of moral justice, of moral sequence, of necessary recom¬ 
pense, and of consequent reward, that was ever written.” 

The following is a digest of Swedenborg’s representations of the 
spiritual world as presented by Dr. Wilkinson :— 

“ A visitant of the spiritual world, Swedenborg has described it in 
lively colours, and it would appear that it is not at all what modern 
ages have deemed. According to some, it is a speck of abstraction, 
intense with grace and saving faith, and other things of terms. 
Only a few of the oldest poets—always excepting the Bible—have 
shadowed it forth with any degree of reality, as spacious for mankind. 
There Swedenborg is at one with them, only that he is more sub¬ 
limely homely, regarding our future dwelling-place. The spiritual 
world is the same old world of God, in a higher sphere. Hill and 
valley, plain and mountain, are as apparent there as here. The 
evident difference lies in the multiplicity and perfection of objects, 
but everything with which we are familiar is perpetuated there, 
and added to innumerable others. The spiritual world is es¬ 
sentially nature, and spirit besides. Its inhabitants are men and 
women, and their circumstances are societies, houses and lands, 
and whatever belongs thereto. The common-place foundation needs 
no moving, to support the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear 
heard, nor the heart of man conceived. The additions and pinnacles 
of wisdom are placed upon the basis which God has laid. Thus, 
nature is not only a knowledge, but a method; our introduction 
to the mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds, to the air and the 
sun, is a friendship that will never be dissolved: there is no 
faithlessness in our great facts if only we are faithful to them, 
but stone and bird, wood and animal, sea and sky, are acquaintances 
which we meet with in the spiritual sphere, in our latest manhood 
or angelhood, equally as in the dawn of the senses, before the 
grave is gained. Such is the spiritual world: duration and im¬ 
mensity resuming nature, but subject to spiritual laws.” 

Human nature repeats itself in every age. The Jews to whom 
Christ came held to the miracles of Moses, but closed their eyes 


190 


JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 


and their hearts to the greater miracles of mercy which the Saviour 
wrought amongst them. The Christian world in general has looked 
with disfavour, if not with scorn, on the spiritual revelations of Swe¬ 
denborg, believing that all gifts of the kind claimed by him ceased 
with the Apostles. And, we may ask: Is Swedenborg the last 
of the seers ?—Are we now shut out from the action of the spiritual 
world ? —Is the book closed, and the vision sealed ? It need not 
greatly excite our surprise, though it may our regret, that many 
He w- Churchmen, as well as Old-Churchmen think so,—that they 
have fallen into that spiritual atrophy from which the teachings 
of Sacred History, and of Swedenborg, should have preserved them: 
but, ah no! it is we who have walled ourselves around and built 
up barriers—who have allowed the scales of sense to fall thickly 
over our spiritual eyes, and thus shut out the eternal world and 
the light from thence that would beam in upon us. Our credence, 
indeed, is readily yielded to what is distant and remote, but we are 
slow of heart, and dull of apprehension, in regard to the marvels 
that are near us and around our path. We all have need to pray 
for the open sight and simple trust of little children; for in very deed, 
there are many things hidden from the wise and prudent which the 
guileless, loving, earnest, child-like mind alone can apprehend. 

Mr. Hindmarsh, who ordained the first ministers of the Hew 
Church, was chosen for that purpose by the lot. The present Spirit 
Manifestations” led to much division in the Church, and the Court 
of Chancery has had to be appealed to, in consequence, to settle the 
affairs of the newest Hew Jerusalem. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 

I have, in previous chapters, instanced churches illustrating in 
their origin, history, doctrine, and in the lives of their founders, 
both the belief in, and the fact of, present spiritual agency and 
intervention in human affairs,—especially in those more immediately 
relating to the religious welfare of mankind, and, further, as illustra¬ 
tive of the continuance of the spiritual gifts with which the Christian 
church was primarily endowed. Other Protestant communions may 
be cited to the same effect, some of which, though generally held in 
Blight esteem, yet exercise an influence, and diffuse the be 



JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 191 

question to an extent perhaps but little known to those who have 
not made the matter a subject of special investigation. 

For instance, it is generally believed that the church founded by 
Joanna Southcott did not survive her; or, that if not quite extinct, it 
is very nearly so; whereas, in fact, it counts its disciples by thous¬ 
ands, and their number is said to be on the increase. It were to be 
wished that the history of this, and other comparatively obscure 
religious sects, was written by men who could enter into their point 
of view ;-^men of competent knowledge and generous sympathies, 
who with patient and loving hearts delight to trace the footsteps of 
truth, even though they have to follow them through by-paths 
intricate and rugged. If the world wants a good and true history of 
these bodies, it must be written by men of this stamp: not by your 
moral inquisitors, who scowl upon truth herself if found wandering 
off orthodoxy’s turnpike-road; nor by your clever, knowing detectives, 
always ready to arrest anybody as an impostor, and who, having no 
deep experiences of their own, treat with scoffing levity all claims 
and doctrines not clad in respectable broadcloth, and certified by tho 
bishop of the diocese. 

In the present chapter, I propose to treat of Joanna Southcott as 
the founder of a church upon modern spirit revelations ; indicating 
chiefly those passages in her biography which illustrate Spiritualism 
in her personal experience. 

Joanna was born at Exeter, in the year 1750. Her parents being 
in humble circumstances, she received but little education, and was 
at no time remarkable for intellectual ability; but she was of pious, 
irreproachable character, and respected by all who knew her. She 
says:—“ From my early age, the fear of the Lord was deeply placed on 
my mind and heart; reading the Gospel of Christ, and all the perse¬ 
cution he went through, made me love him, and fear to offend him; 
and I felt my heart burn with indignation against his accusers; and 
as I grew in years, I grew in grace, and in the fear of the Lord.’* 
She was forty-two years of age when she began to receive revelations, 
prophecies, and visions.* These continued during many years till 
the time of her death. Her pamphlets containing the “ Communica¬ 
tions given to me by an invisible Spirit,” as she expresses it, would 

* Mr. Sharp, the celebrated engraver—one of Joanna’s early disciples, expresses his conviction 
that for above twenty years previous to this time, she had been in preparation from an invisible 
Spirit for her public mission; and there are various allusions in Joanna’s account of her early life 
to her being “ answered,” being “directed,” 8sc, in a way which favours this idea.; 


192 


JOANNA SOTJTHCOTT. 


fill many volumes. As literature, these books will never rank among 
English classics. If any one should seek in them for graces of style 
and elegance of composition, he will assuredly be disappointed. The 
indifferent grammar and doggrel verse in which they abound, is a 
great stumbling-block to critics. The view taken of this matter by a 
learned, scholarly writer—the Rev. James Smith, in his Divine 
Drama of History and Civilisation , may, however, be worth consider¬ 
ation. He remarks:—“ Joanna Southcott is not very gallantly 
treated by the gentlemen of the Press, who, we believe, without 
knowing anything about her, merely pick up the idea of her charac¬ 
ter from the rabble. We once entertained the same rabble idea of 
her; but having read her works—for we really have read them—we 
now regard her with great respect. However, there is a great 
abundance of chaff and straw to her grain; but the grain is good, 
and as we do not eat either the chaff or the straw if we can avoid it, 
nor even the raw grain, but thresh it, and winnow it, and grind it, 
and bake it: we find it after undergoing this process, not only very 
palatable, but a special dainty of its kind. But the husk is an insur¬ 
mountable obstacle to those learned and educated gentlemen who 
judge of books entirely by the style and grammar, or those who eat 
grain as it grows, l^ke the cattle. Such men would reject all pro- 
logical revelation; for there never was, and probably never will be, 
a revelation by voice and vision communicated in classical manner. 
It would be an invasion of the rights and prerogatives of Humanity, 
and as contrary to the Divine and the established order of mundane 
government, as a field of quartern loaves or hot French rolls?’ 

Joanna and her followers believed that events fully proved her to 
be a true prophetess, and regarded this as a demonstration that her 
mission was of Divine origin. Thus, Mrs. Taylor, her mistress at 
Exeter, deposed that:—“ There was scarcely anything happened to 
the nation, or to particular families, or individuals with whom she 
(Joanna) was acquainted, that she did not inform me would happen 
before it did, and all were fulfilled as Joanna predicted, and this 
continued for two or three years.” The Rev. T. P. Foley says:—“ We 
can prove in the most satisfactory manner, that many of her public 
predictions concerning this, and other nations from 1792 to this day, 
(1805,) have already come to pass—as well as many private predic¬ 
tions respecting herself and believers,” and Mr. Sharp specifies 
that,—“ She foretold of the late war, before there was any appearance 
of it, as also of the dearth and scarcity that followed; and for nearly 


JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 


193 


eight years past foretold every harvest, and how the war would go 
on in this and other nations. Of these things there can be no 
doubt.” 

In reply to those who charged her writings upon the Devil, or an 
evil spirit, Joanna always appealed to the truth of her prophecies, 
and to the accordance of her writings with the Scriptures, as the 
evidence which had most powerfully convinced her of their Divine 
origin. She says :—“ I tell you plainly I have not been one of them 
that build their faith upon a sandy foundation. I have been power¬ 
fully led by a Spirit invisible, for eight years past, (1801) and 
though I was strongly influenced to write by it, as a spirit invisible, 
and convinced in my own mind it was from God; yet knowing Satan 
might come as an angel of light, made me earnest in prayer that the 
Lord would be my Director, my Guide, and my Keeper; that I 
might not be permitted to say, ‘ The Lord saith,’ if He had not 
spoken. In answer to my prayers, I had signs set before me of 
what was to happen, to assure me it was of God; that was I to pen 
them all; and how true they all came, it would fill a volume. There¬ 
fore, I have not imposed upon the world with prophecies, till I was 
- clearly convinced they were of God, and not from the Devil.” Again, 
“ I do not wish to live one day longer, if I should be writing from 
any spirit that is not of God. I should rejoice at the summons of 
death to stop my mouth, and leave this world, if I am deceived and 
deceiving mankind. Is there anything hid from the Lord ? Will 
He prolong my life to deceive men and me P Can I judge that God, 
who in all ages of the world hath taken so much pains to convince 
men of errors .... will not now make a way for me to escape by 
death if I should be tempted to follow the directions of any spirit 
that is not of God .... I now can appeal to Him that searcheth the 
heart, and trieth the reins of the children of men, that my mind and 
heart have been to do His will, as far as I was informed it was His 
will—and as the truths followed the words given me, from whence 
could I judge them but from the God of truth—in whom is both 
knowledge, wisdom, and power; wisdom to know, knowledge to 
foretell, and power to fulfil? This hath been the leading of my 
faith, from strength to strength, from truth to truth, that I have 
judged none but a God could foreknow. Now if this wisdom and 
power be given to any spirit which is not of God, I trust the Lord 
will pluck me from his hand, as a brand is plucked from the burn- 


194 


JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 


ing.”* In her reply to Garret’s Demonocracy , she says :—“ 1 declare 
that in the beginning of my visitation, every man’s hand was against 
me that had any knowledge thereof; so I went on alone by myself; 
pressed by a Spirit of Power, that I could not resist; and being filled 
with faith and fear, I waited to see the truths of the Spirit, before 
I relied entirely upon it, that I might be clear in my own judgment 
it was from the Lord. As to man, I never could be biassed by, nor 
rely upon any man’s judgment in my life; for I have frequently gone 
from one place of worship to another, and heard the ministers preach 
one against the other, and I was convinced that they must have 
placed the Bible wrong; this also convinced me that no man’s 
judgment was right; but every man placed the Bible according to 
his own faith. So I trusted to my faith alone, knowing every 
good and perfect gift came from God, and to Him alone was my 
trust; and from the Spirit that visited me, the only way I thought 
of to try the Spirit, was by the truth that followed his words; and 
as to the revelations of the Bible, the meaning of them was explained 
to me. I relied upon the words given to me, from the truth that 
had followed in my prophecies.f .... If every man on earth was to 
assure me my calling is of God, if I had not clear and strong 
grounds to believe it myself, I never should rely upon their belief; 
so my hand is not strengthened by man, in any other way than by 
the fulfilment of the words of the Lord; and as to the Devil, he hath 
used every art and every threatening to make me give up my writ¬ 
ings ; therefore Garret has drawn a wrong picture to say the Devil 
pressed me to go on.” 

This accusation was probably pointed at Joanna’s Seven Days Dis- 

* This is taken from a pamphlet, entitled Sound an Alarm in my Holy Mountain. It contains 
also a prayer by Joanna, which, in its earnestness and fervid devotion, has a dignity and a beauty 
far surpassing that of her ordinary compositions. 

+ In her Warning to the whole World (1804) Joanna has enumerated her then fulfilled 
predictions, as follows:— 

“The war that I foretold in 1792 we should be engaged in, followed in 1793. The dearth which 
came upon the land in 1794 and 1795,1 foretold in 1792; and if unbelief did abound, that a much 
greater scarcity would take place, and which too fatally followed. I foretold the bad harvest in 
1797. I foretold in letters sent to two ministers of Exeter, what would be the harvests of 1799 
and 1800; that the former would be hurt by rain and the latter by sun; these followed as 
predicted. The rebellion which took place in Ireland in 1798, I foretold in 1795, when the Irish 
soldiers rebelled against the English officers.... I foretold the secret thoughts and conversation 
of people in Exetor, which took place in 1792. This was acknowledged to be true by Mr. Eastlaka, 
of Exeter, before the Rev. Stanhope Bruce, the Rev. Thomas P. Foley, Messrs. Turner, Sharp, 
Wilson, and Morris, on January 2nd, 1802, whilst they were at Exeter to examine into the Uuth 
of my character and writings. 


JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 


195 


pute with the Powers of Darkness (1802) ; Satan, it seems, from her 
pamphlet, being specially permitted to try her, as he did Job of old. 
Joanna was ordered to pen down the dispute. And a very strange 
one it is. “ Satan’s Friend ” (as she calls one of the interlocutors) told 
her among other things, that the Spirit who visited her was an old 
lover of her’s—one Follart, who had told her that—“ If she would 
not have him he would die for her sake.” (Whether his death was 
occasioned by her rejection of him does not appear.) “ Finding there 
was no way to make access to thy heart except under the pre¬ 
tence of religion, he (Follart’s spirit) began that way; and knowing 
from angels what was coming on—that some new things were 
coming upon the earth, went and told thee of them: and formed 
himself in the form of God’s angels, and took their name. The 
Lord hath never spoken by thee.” He advised her to burn her books 
—publish to the world what he had told her, and he would supply 
her with money, and make her wisdom shine another way. Satan 
himself also took part in the dispute, and sought to overawe Joanna 
by declarations of his power, which he threatened to exert for her 
destruction if she did not follow the advice which he and his 
“friend” had given her. Joanna, however, was neither to be cajoled 
nor intimidated. She scouted their explanations, scorned alike 
their advice and their favour, and defied their threatenings. She 
averred that “ Follart had never wisdom to invent such writings or 
bring round such mysteries” as were in her books; and, moreover, 
that the Lord would not have suffered a wrong Spirit to have led her 
for ten years astray, when He knew that she had trusted in Him and 
in His promises throughout the Bible. Satan, like other disputants, 
occasionally lost his temper when foiled in argument, and broke out 
into a coarseness of expression which I should hope well-behaved 
devils would hardly tolerate. 

In 1801 five gentlemen—three of them clergymen, came from dif¬ 
ferent parts of the kingdom to Exeter to inquire into the truth of 
Joanna’s mission; they staid seven days, making all needful inves¬ 
tigations, and then returned satisfied of its truth and divine origin. 
On the 12th of January, 1803, these, with other gentlemen assem¬ 
bled at a house in Paddington, to take the matter a second time into 
consideration. This was called Joanna’s Second Trial. The meeting 
was previously advertised in the newspapers—those who derided 
Joanna’s claims were desired to attend and produce their reason? 
for doing so. Circulars were specially sent to the Bishops and 

o 2 


196 


JOANNA SOUTH COTT. 


clergy, inviting their attendance. None, however, but believers 
came. These proceeded to select twelve persons from the company 
to act as judges, and twelve more as a jury. Witnesses were 
examined, and the trial was conducted in regular judicial form. 
Again a Third Trial, “ extending over several days, was held in 1804, 
at Bermondsey.” A Court was appointed, consisting of twelve 
judges, twelve jurymen, and twenty-four Elders. These forty-eight, 
at the close of their sittings, signed a declaration, in which, among 
other things, they affirmed, “We do, individually and voluntarily 
avow by our separate signatures, our firm belief that her (Joanna s) 
Prophecies and other spiritual communications emanate wholly and 
entirely from the Spirit of the living God.” 

Joanna solicited these trials of her character and writings, not in 
deference to human judgment, but in obedience to what she believed 
a divine command—“that whenever twelve men met together to 
prove my writings with me,.to their judgment I should give it 
up.” It was also by signs, made known to her beforehand, the 
number who would meet at the last trial of her writings, and 
again to their judgment she was commanded to give them up; 
and, says Joanna—“So I did as a command from the Lord; but 
not from the teachings of men.” 

Joanna’s writings, from her account, appear to have been given 
her by some kind of spiritual impression. She disclaimed having 
seen the Spirit to converse with it as men converse with men— 
“ But,” she says, “ I have said it is a spirit invisible that infused 
into my head all I write. .... I could as well have made the 
world, and formed the whole creation, as I could invent such wri¬ 
tings of myself: for I am not so wise as "the world has made me. 
Without the Spirit I am nothing, without the Spirit I know no¬ 
thing, and without the Spirit I can do nothing; so whether you 
judge the Spirit good or bad, to that Spirit you must allude the 
whole, for I am a living witness against every man that says my 
writings are of my own invention; and I publicly affirm that such 
a man believes a lie, and the truth is not in him.” She affirms 
that the words of the Spirit were as distinct to her hearing, a^ 
though they were spoken in an audible voice. 

In a memoir of Joanna by an anonymous and unfriendly contem¬ 
porary, we have this account of the mod/us ojperandi by which her 
communications were obtained:—“When the Spirit is about to im¬ 
part some communication, Joanna feels an agitation within; the 



JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 


197 


Prophetess, her Secretary, and the witness arrange themselves in 
one group. (Form a circle would be the modern phrase.) After 
this, the Spirit begins to speak, addressing himself not to the wit¬ 
ness, nor the secretary, but to Joanna within: so that our Prophe¬ 
tess has simply to sit down, and talk to herself! This she actually 
does, when the secretary, another female, takes down what she 
says, and then the witness, likewise feminine, signs it. (These 
communications at first were put to paper by Joanna with her own 
hand.) Joanna will sometimes dictate a line, only sometimes a 
sentence, stopping till it is perfectly committed to writing.” Mr. 
Sharp says:—“ I am a witness that she writes from no books and 
has none to read. She writes fast without blots or any appear¬ 
ance of error.” 

To the charge that her pretensions arose from vanity and pride, 
Joanna replied:—“I never ascribed any honour to myself in my 
life nor ever thought highly of myself; and when this visitation of 
the Lord came so powerfully to me in ninety-two, (1792) instead of 
lifting me up with pride it sunk me lower in my own eyes, and 
made me look upon my own unworthiness.” 

The spirit who visited Joanna did not always operate only by the 
infusion of ideas into her mind. It sometimes acted upon her in a 
more marked and powerful manner. Thus she relates that on one 
occasion :—“ All of a sudden the Spirit entered me with such power 
and fury, that my senses seemed lost; I felt as though I had power 
to shake the house down, and yet I felt as though I could walk on 
air, at the time the Spirit remained in me, but I did not remember 
many words I said, as they were delivered with such fury that took 
my senses; but as soon as the Spirit had left me, I grew weak as 
before.” 

Joanna must also have been a spiritual clairaudient. She tells us 
that:—“ After hearing (spirit) voices in the street, and being told 
it was the devil’s, (rough voices harshly disputing she tells us a 
few lines before) my fears alarmed me . . . Soon after a voice came 
to my bedside and threatened my life, if I did not give up my writ¬ 
ings ; to which I firmly answered I would not ... In this manner 
I heard his voice (Satan’s as she thought) three nights following.” 
The Spirit told her that this was a sign: that—“As loud as the 
voice of Satan to me was heard in the night; so loud will the voice 
of the Lord be heard in the land, when He comes to shake terribly 
the earth, and to chain down the power of darkness.” 


198 


JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 


Joanna was further what would now be called a rapping-mednvm. 
In the pamphlet before quoted Sound an Alarm &c., there is a letter 
from her to the Reverend T. P. Foley, enclosing “ a communication 
lately given to me.” She says:—“ After this letter was sent, 
January 3rd, the day following I sat writing and there came a loud 
rap on my table, loud and shrill.” This loud rap, Joanna, till un¬ 
deceived by the Spirit, regarded as a token to her of her approach¬ 
ing death; and it was on this occasion that she expressed herself 
concerning her death as before quoted. At another time she was 
awoke with a loud noise on the stair-flat, and as she lay awake, it 
seemed to her like a large iron ball rolling from stair to stair three 
stairs down; this, she was told by the Spirit was significant of 
coming judgments. 

Many of my readers have doubtless read of spirit-hands being 
seen and felt in the presence of certain mediums, and of similar 
relations among the New England puritans two centuries ago. Well, 
Joanna, from the following account, seems to have had very similar 
experiences. “On the night of the 14th October, 1813, I was 
ordered,” she says, “ to sit up all night in a room by myself, which 
I did. Many extraordinary things were revealed to me, why Christ 
took man’s nature upon him, and what He suffered for man’s sake, 
that I should keep that night in everlasting remembrance, and not 
forget the giver of the blessings I enjoyed. About twelve o’clock 
I looked at the candle; the candle was flaming very bright; and 
there appeared a ring as red as scarlet; circled round the middle of 
the flame; immediately there appeared a hand as white as snow, 
which came out between the bowl and the candle and pointed to¬ 
wards me; I trembled to see, but was answered—* Fear not, it is I.* 
I was then ordered to put on my glasses, and the hand appeared a 
second time more brilliant than before, but then the flame of the 
candle seemed parted in two and looked in a different manner than 
the first, but burnt very bright. The hand was pointed towards 
me a second time, as white as snow, and a red cuff was upon the 
wrist.” 

Jane Townley, who slept with Joanna, relates that at another time, 
Joanna “felt a hand come round her, and ahead come over her, 
that she thought kept breathing upon her with more powerful breath 
than ever was the force of air from a smith’s bellows that blowed 
the fire for the anvil.” After this, Joanna tried to sleep to compose 
herself;,and “at last she fell asleep with the strong breathings 


JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 


199 


that were over her head, which it is impossible for her to describe, 
and which took her senses quite away.” 

That Joanna, in common with a majority of the medical authorities 
who examined her, was deluded in a certain particular, does not I 
think invalidate her evidence, as to the spirit-visitations she expe¬ 
rienced. The one was an error of judgment, into which, under all 
the circumstances of the case, it is not very surprising that she and 
her followers should fall :* the other was a question of fact and of 
consciousness, concerning which—apart from the further question 
of the nature of the Spirit who visited her, she was not so liable 
to mistake. On the latter point, indeed, in the last few days of her 
life she seems to have had misgivings, but in her will, she, with un¬ 
wavering confidence persisted that she had been visited by either a 
good or an evil spirit. This confidence as to the fact of spirit com¬ 
munication with her, combined with the mistrust of her own judg¬ 
ment concerning the spirit, at her close of earthly life, and her 
mistake in the matter before alluded to, are evidence of her sincerity. 
This quality of her character was indeed admitted by candid op¬ 
ponents : while those who had known her as friends for from ten 
to twenty years averred that she was incapable of uttering a falsehood 
knowing it to be such. Nor is there any reason to suspect her of 
being actuated by the motive of pecuniary gain. Her apartment was 
paltry and mean, and she was contented with the bare means of 
subsistence. When some gentlemen and ladies promised her money 
to tell their fortunes, Joanna treated their offer with the utmost 
indignation, “They and their money,” she exclaimed, “perish to¬ 
gether—my soul shall never come into their secrets. Their gold 
and their principles I abhor and despise.” Elsewhere, in repelling 
this accusation of making money by her writings, she declares 
“The thought of gain was never in my view, and what I thought I 
was commanded of the Lord, I obeyed; but so far from any gain 
at- present (1801) I now stand one hundred pounds worse than I 
should, had I never took pen in hand, and I can prove it to the 
world .... It is well known to all my acquaintance, that I can 
maintain myself by my trade, as decently as any woman in my line 
of life would wish to live; and should have placed myself in business 


* Mrs. De Morgan remarks:—“In the language of (spiritual) correspondence, the birth of a 
child typifies the growth and unfolding of the spirit. Had the followers of Joanna Southcott been 
able to interpret this inner tongue, they would not have brought ridicule on themselves and their 
cause by confounding the symbol of spirit-life with the conditions of the outer world.” 


200 


EDWARD IRVING. 


years since, had I not been ordered to leave all to follow on to know 
the Lord, and then I assuredly should know him.” 

The church of Joanna, founded on the belief of spiritual visitations 
and disclosures: to this day maintains the reality and continuance 
of revelation by voice and vision. The Reverend James Smith says 
of this church:—“ It began in 1792, was conducted by Joanna per¬ 
sonally till 1814, and then continued by a series of prophets and 
prophetesses; and is more extended now though less heard of, than 
ever it was. . . . The Prophet Wroe is the leader of the only large 
organized body of Joanna Southcott’s followers. . . . The one 
Temple of this party is at Ashton-under-Line, but the Prophet 
resides at Wakefield, though generally travelling all over the world, 
being commanded to set his foot upon all countries as the sign of a 
universal mission.” 

Some three or four years ago a monthly publication that was 
issued by some of Joanna’s disciples, called The Comforter; or 
the Spiritual World’s Express, gave accounts of “ Spiritual Circles” 
among Joanna’s followers, and of communications received by them 
through speaking and rapping media; and recorded some of the 
Spiritual Manifestations in America. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

EDWARD IRVING AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 

In the winter of 1822, the Caledonian Church in Cross Street, 
Hatton Garden, was the scene of extraordinary excitement. Dukes, 
duchesses, members of the royal family, judges, statesmen, cabinet- 
ministers—the rank and intellect of the land were crowding there 
Sunday after Sunday. The aisles were jammed, the doors besieged, 
seat-holders—who had rapidly increased from fifty to fifteen hundred, 
had to be admitted by a side-door, and other admissions were 
limited by issuing tickets, for which a written application had to be 
made. Even then, the preacher had to make his way up pulpit 
stairs covered with ladies, glad to obtain even that rude accommoda¬ 
tion. That preacher was indeed no ordinary man—a ripe scholar, an 
independant thinker, a fervent orator, genius flashed in his eye, 
conviction flowed from his tongue; dowered with a right royal 



EDWARD IRVING. 


201 


intellect and a noble soul, those who heard, admired, and those who 
knew, loved him. He was by birth a Scotchman, and by name, 
Edward Irving. 

Though thus followed, Irving was no flatterer of wealth and 
greatness; fashionable vice and folly must have winced under the 
lash of his rebukes, and been startled by the energy and vehemence 
with which he preached the gospel of repentance. Though no man 
ever more earnestly contended for the truth, he preached more of 
duty than of doctrine, of what men should be, than of what they 
should beli&ve ; but “ the secret of his attraction lay in the tenderness 
with which he bound up the wounds of poor humanity, rather than 
in the skill with which he probed them. The Fatherhood of God, 
and the goings forth of the human heart, were his most frequent 
themes—the parables and miracles of Christ, his abounding inspira¬ 
tion.”* 

Thirty years have elapsed since his death; few of the generation 
who heard him now survive; his name has become little more than 
a tradition—one, too, which beyond the boundaries of a church i3 
seldom uttered but to point a shallow moral—as a warning example 
how perilous is intellect to a Christian preacher, how fatal popularity 
to spiritual life. In the coming time, when the scales of a material 
philosophy shall have fallen from men’s eyes, and a new spiritual 
life shall animate the Christian church, a truer estimate of him will 
be formed; meanwhile, in any historical record of Spiritualism, 
however slight, his name, and the spiritual manifestations associated 
therewith, must occupy a conspicuous place. 

Though trained to the ministry, and anxious to labour in it, 
Irving, in his thirtieth year, had received no call from presbytery or 
patron. He had preached occasionally, but so little to the satisfac¬ 
tion of his hearers, that he got no second invitation. He had “ an 
obstinate habit of standing on his own instincts he could not 

“ Narrow his mind 

And to party give up what was meant for mankind.” 

He loved Christian truth, and preached it with all the zeal of an 
Apostle, with all the freshness and power of his original and energe¬ 
tic mind. Men missed in his preaching the customary inanities and 
conventionalities of the pulpit, and regarded him as a phenomenon 
that had no business there. He had resolved' upon proceeding to the 

* Edward Irving . A Biography. By Washington Wilks. 


202 


EDWAKD IRVING. 


East, as a missionary for Christ, had taken a farewell tonr of 
his native Ayrshire, and was wandering in the north of Ireland, on 
the eve of carrying his missionary intention into effect, when a 
letter reached him from Dr. Chalmers, (who had heard him preach 
a sermon for Dr. Thomson of Edinburgh) requesting his immediate 
presence in Glasgow. 

When Chalmers told Irving that he desired him for his assistant, 
Irving replied, “ I am most grateful to you, Sir, but I must also 
be somewhat acceptable to your people. I will preach to them if 
you think fit; but if they bear with my preaching, they will be the 
first that have borne with it.” He did preach to them, and so well 
did they bear with it, that he was forthwith appointed assistant 
minister of St. John’s, Glasgow. 

Here he remained little more than two years, labouring faith¬ 
fully in the ministry, especially the ministry of the poor. Dr. 
Chalmers found in him a zealous coadjutor in every scheme of 
Christian philanthropy; and Irving revered him as a father. In 
after years, Irving looked back upon this period of his life as 
among the happiest of his reminiscences; and “ it should be regis¬ 
tered, says his biographer, “that Glasgow did not forget him; 
that by the poor in particular—his memory was long cherished; 
and that even to this day, he may be heard of with reverence and 
regret, in the wynds and closes of that great and terrible city, 
whose religion is so ostentatious, and whose wickedness is so 
desperate.” 

He left Glasgow to accept an invitation he had received to be¬ 
come pastor of the scanty congregation meeting in London, at 
Cross Street, Hatton Garden. The church here proving insuffi¬ 
cient for his large and increasing auditory, in 1827, a spacious and 
elegant church in Regent Square was erected for him by his con¬ 
gregation, at a cost of £15,000. Dr. Chalmers preached the opening 
sermon. 

It was in this church that the public manifestations of spiritual 
gifts occurred; but their modern revival, as there seen, did not 
originate in Mr. Irving’s congregation, but with certain ladies at 
Port Glasgow, in the spring of 1830. When Mr. Irving, whose 
mind by the study of Scripture, had been prepared for these occur¬ 
rences, “heard of Scottish women speaking as did the Twelve on the 
Day of Pentecost, he suspected no travestie of that wondrous story, 
but felt only hope and thankfulness. He despatched an elder of his 


EDWARD IRVING. 


203 


church to inquire into the thing, who brought back a good report, 
and found the tongues of flame sitting on his own wife and daugh¬ 
ters. Still, not rashly, nor arrogantly, was the marvel proclaimed 
to the world. For some time, only in private meetings, was the 
* gift’ invited to manifest itself. There, philological learning pro¬ 
nounced the utterances something more than jargon, and observation 
failed to detect imposture. Prayer meetings were then held at 6'30 
every morning at the church in Regent Square, and were numerously 
attended. At these meetings, exhortations would be uttered in the 
“ tongue” by one person, and the interpretation chanted in English 
by another.* “ Warnings and predictions were sometimes given— 
the pestilence which invaded this land in the following summer, was 
distinctly uttered as a Divine judgment.”! On Sunday morning, 
October 16th, a “ sister,” (a Miss Hall,) burst forth in the open con¬ 
gregation with an utterance in the tongue. Mr. Irving calmed the 
people, who had risen in alarm, bade the sister console herself—for 
she had struggled with the power that had possession of her—and 
hastened her into the vestry of the church there to give it speech, 
and expounded to the congregation the fourteenth chapter of the first 
epistle to the Corinthians, as explanatory of the occurrence. In the 
evening, a “ brother,” (a Mr. Taplin,) produced even greater excite¬ 
ment than the morning speaker; and in the course of the week, all 
London was talking of this new phase in the career of its popular 
preacher. The “unknown tongues” continued in the church, and 
other “utterances in the spirit” were also given; and remarkable 
cases of healing by spiritual power occurred. From a letter written 
by Mr. Irving in November, 1831, we learn that, “Both at Liver¬ 
pool, and near Baldock, in Herts, in the parish of Pym, there have been 
manifestations.” And Mrs. Oliphant in her Life of Edward Irving , 

* “He who spake with tongues in the Church did nothing else than utter words, unknown 
alike to himself and to all the people; and there was needed, therefore, another, with the gift of 
interpretation. The one did, as it were, dream the dream of Pharoah, which went from him and 
was not known; the other, like Joseph, did receive the interpretation thereof direct from God. 
As the speaker spake the unknown words, the meaning thereof rose upon the interpreter’s heart, 
and the proper native words came upon his lips. But he was all the while as ignorant of the 
foreign words as the utterer and the hearers of them. It was a spiritual gift, and not an act of 
translation from one tongue into another. . . These two collateral and co-efficient gifts, thus 
exercised, are profitable for bringing messages direct from the Spirit, without any possibility 
of being curtailed or exaggerated in the utterance of them; for he speaking in a tongue knoweth 
not a word he speaketh, and he interpreting knoweth not what is to follow, and being taken 
together, they form an entire check.”—I rving. 

t Edward Irving: A Biography. By Washington Wilks. 


204 


EDWARD IRVING. 


tells us, that in the summer of 1833, an Independent congregation in 
the city, presided over by Mr. Miller, went through the same process 
which had taken place in Regent Square, and attached itself to the new 
church; and that the ecstatic voices began to be heard in the Church of 
England, from which they also ended by detaching at least one clergy¬ 
man in London. Mr. Irving, at urgent request, contributed to Fraser’s 
Magazine , (Yols. iv. and v.,) a recital of “ Facts connected with Recent 
Manifestations of Spiritual Gifts.” And a new Quarterly Magazine 
—The Morning Watch, was instituted, in which the facts and philo¬ 
sophy of the question were discussed. From the papers supplied by 
Mr. Irving to Fraser’s Magazine, I select some of the more remark¬ 
able passages. First let us notice the solemnity, and the sense of 
responsibility under which this narrative was written. He tells us 
that he writes:— 

“Faithfully to narrate what hath come under my own eye, or 
been brought to my knowledge from the most certain and authentic 
sources.” “ I am writing a record of the workings of God for the 
eye of a most unbelieving generation, who would fain persuade 
themselves that God hath forsaken the earth, and left it to be 
managed by infidel statesmen, false-hearted churchmen, and lying 
prophets; but they are all my brethren, and some of them may, by 
God’s grace, be delivered from the snare of Antichrist by what I 
write: therefore I will write as if speaking it from my own pulpit 
with the single love of truth in my heart and the fear of God before 
my eyes.” 

“ Since ever I read the word of God for the building up of my own 
faith, I have never ceased to believe that the spiritual gifts and the 
spiritual office bearers, as they are enumerated in Scripture, (1 Cor. 
xii4—11; Eph. iv 7—17; Rom. xii 6—9; 1 Peter i. 1, 10, 11, & c .) 
together with the various supernatural methods of operation re¬ 
corded in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are not acciden¬ 
tal and temporary occurrences of a miraculous kind, for certain 
special ends and occasions, but substantial and permanent forms of 
operation proper to the Holy Ghost, and in no wise to be separated 
from Him, or from the Church, which is his chosen residence 
and temple, the ‘body of Christ,’ and the ‘fulness of Him who 
filleth all in all.’ With this faith firmly rooted in my heart I did not 
doubt that the only reason for the disappearance of those endow¬ 
ments from the visible church, or rather from the face of her history, 
was the evil heart of unbelief, and the hiding of the ‘ light of the 


EDWARD IRVING. 


205 


world’ under the ‘bushel’ of human systems and ordinances, 
and the ‘burying of our talent in the earth’ of the natural 
man.’ ). . . . 

“Being occupied with the ministry of these two great truths— 
Christ’s union with us by the one flesh, and our present union with 
Him by the one Spirit—I had not made sure to my own mind, nor 
taught my people to look or to pray for the restoration of the spiri¬ 
tual gifts, but confined myself to the confession of our sins and the 
sins of our fathers for which they had ceased, and to the bewailing 
of our low and abject state before the Lord. Thus we stood when 
the tidings of the restoration of the gift of tongues in the west of 
Scotland burst upon us like the morning star heralding the approach 
of day, and turned our speculations upon the true doctrine into the 

examination of a fact.I did rejoice with great joy when the 

tidings were read to me, coming through a most authentic channel, 
that the bridal attire and jewels of the church were found again.. . . 
I felt it to be a matter of too great concern to yield up my faith to 
any thing but the clearest evidence, and at the same time of so great 
importance as not to leave a stone unturned in order to come at the 
truth. I had the amplest means of obtaining information; first 
from eye and ear witnesses, men of reputation, elders of the church, 
then from many of the most spiritual members of my flock who 
went down to see and hear, and finally from the gifted persons them¬ 
selves.” Mr. Irving then enters into a detailed account of the spiri¬ 
tual manifestations at Port Glasgow, which I omit here, as an account 
is given of them in another chapter. 

The gift of tongues which was manifested in Mr. Irving’s church, 
and of which he goes on to speak, was regarded by him as identical 
with that poured out on the day of Pentecost, and manifested abun¬ 
dantly in the early Christian Church. In a paper by him in the 
Morning Watch , “ On the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, commonly called 
Supernatural,” (Vol. iv.) he exposed, and refuted the popular erro¬ 
neous notions of this gift, and displayed its true character. The 
fundamental popular error pointed out by him is—“That the gift of 
tongues was a supernatural faculty of using languages, conferred 
upon the Apostles and other primitive preachers of the Gospel, for 
the purpose of expressing their mind to the people to whom they 
came, in consideration of their want of learning, and to supersede 
the delay of acquiring so many tongues as they are believed to have 
preached in, and to expedite the spread of the Gospel.How, 




206 


EDWARD IRVING. 


however much, this notion may have prevailed in modem times, it is 
most certain first, that it hath no foundation in Scripture, and can 
easily be shown from Scripture to be utterly erroneous; next, that it 
was not held by the early Greek commentators and fathers of the 
church; and, lastly, that exact students of the subject in modern 
times, as the learned Ernesti, have also rejected it.”* 

I have not space to follow Mr. Irving’s reasonings and abundant 
citations from Scripture; but he concludes that though the gift of 
tongues may have included the speaking in known languages, as on 
the day of Pentecost, and on other occasions among the early Chris¬ 
tian disciples, and sometimes also in his own church; yet, that thia 
was not uniformly, or even generally the case. The “tongue” was a 
sign of the presence and operating energy of the Holy Spirit; de- 
signed, not for the conversion of foreigners, but as a witness to the 
church, and for the edification of its members. “ Tongues are for a 
sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.” 

The exposition of this question is also interwoven with the “Nar¬ 
rative” in Fraser, here resumed:—“ It is the essence of the tongue 
that it should be unknown; and the definition of it is—‘He that 
speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no 
man understandeth him ’ (1 Cor. xiv. 2). If it were understood by 
the speaker, or by the hearer, it would not serve its end of proving 
that the speaker is not man, but the Holy Ghost. For if he under¬ 
stands it himself, then it is' he who may be using it; if others 
understand it, then he may have learnt it; and this would draw 
suspicion which would militate against the end of God: which ia 
to show, that not the person or speaker, but the Holy Ghost, fills 
the spirit of the person; filling his spirit, but not touching hia 
understanding; so as that he himself is edified, but incapable of 

* See his Opuscula Theologian. A very different writer from Ernesti— Dr. Middleton— 
comes to the same conclusion. He saysThe gift of tongues was not of a stable or permanent 
nature, but adapted to particular occasions, and then withdrawn again, as soon as it had served 
the particular purpose for which it was destined. And here wc see the vanity of that notion 
which is generally entertained about it, that from this first communication of it to the Apostles, it 
adhered to them constantly, as long as tjiey lived, so as to enable them to preach the Gospel to 
every nation through which they travelled, in its own proper tongue j a notion for which I cannot 
find the least ground in any part of Sacred Writ, but many solid reasons to evince the contrary.*’ 
In a previous passage of the same Essay, after having quoted many authors to show that the real 
purport of the gift was not for the converting of heathen nations, but merely as a sign; he adds t 
—“ It is evident, then, that the chief, or rather the sole end of this gift of tongues, was to serve aa 
a sensible sign that those to whom it was vouchsafed were under a divine influence, and acting by 
a divine commission.” 


EDWARD IRVING. 


207 


edifying others, until the Holy Ghost, having given the sign of his per¬ 
sonal presence and agency, begin to speak in the native tongue, While 
the unknown tongue is uttered, he edifieth himself, but not others; 
while the native tongue is uttering, he and all that hear are edified 
alike. But while it is of the essence of the tongue, in order that it 
may be a sign, that it should be unknown, just as of a miracle it is of 
the essence that it should be supernatural, there must be added to 
the tongue words intelligible, either from the same mouth or from 
another, in the way of interpretation, in order that the end of all 
signs, which is edification, may be accomplished. And so at Ceserea 
they not only spake with tongues but magnified God; and at Ephesus 
they spake with tongues and prophesied. And so it is in these days. 
Of the hundreds of manifestations which I have heard, there have 
been a few without the introductory sign of the unknown tongue, 
but there never was one without the main substance of testifying to 

Jesus, and exhorting to holiness in our own tongue. 

“ Those who speak in the tongue always declare—‘ That the words 
uttered in English are as much by power supernatural, and by the 
same power, supernatural, as the words uttered in the language 
unknown.’ But no one hearing and observing the utterance could for a 
moment doubt it, inasmuch as the whole utterance, from the beginning 
to the ending of it, is with a power and strength and fulness, and some¬ 
times rapidity of voice, altogether different from that of the person’s 
ordinary utterance in any mood; and I would say, both in its form and 
in its effects upon a simple mind, quite supernatural. There is a power 
in the voice to thrill the heart and overawe the spirit after a manner 
which I have never felt. There is a march, and a majesty, and a 
sustained grandeur in the voice, especially of those who prophecy, 
which I have never heard even a resemblance to, except now and then 
in the sublimest and most impassioned moods of Mrs. Siddons and 
Miss O’Neill. It is a mere abandonment of all truth to call it 
screaming or crying; it is the most majestic and divine utterance 
which I ever heard, some parts of which I never heard equalled, and 
no part of it surpassed, by the finest exhibition of genius and of art 
exhibited at the oratorios in the Concerts of Ancient Music. And 
when the speech utters itself in the way of psalm or spiritual song, 
it is the likest to some of the most simple and ancient chants in the 
cathedral service; insomuch that I have often been led to think that 
those chants, some of which can be traced as high as the days of 
Ambrose, are recollections and transmissions of the inspired utter- 



208 


EDWARD IRVING. 


ances in the primitive Church. Most frequently the silence is broke 
by utterance in a tongue, and this continues for a longer or shorter 
period, sometimes occupying only a few words, as it were filling the 
first gust of sound, sometimes extending to five minutes, or even 
more, of earnest and deeply felt discourse, with which the soul and 
heart of the speaker is manifestly much moved, to tears and sighs 
and unutterable groanings, to joy and mirth and exultation, and even 
laughter of the heart. So far from being unmeaning gibberish, as 
the thoughtless and heedless sons of Belial have said, it is regularly 
formed, well pronounced, deeply felt discourse, which evidently 
wanteth only the ear of him whose native tongue it is to make it 

a very master-piece of powerful speech. 

“ But, say they, of what use to listen to that which we understand 
not? The answer is manifold. To him who uttereth it it is very 
useful; for ‘ he that speaketh in a tongue, edifieth himself,’ through 
the speech, ‘though the understanding be unfruitful;’ and thou 
oughtest to rejoice in thy brother’s edification, especially if in a few 
seconds or minutes he is about to edify thee with a message from 
God. Useful, brother?—It is most useful for thee, in order to get 
the better of thine unbelief and irreverence—to abate thy trust in 
thy understanding, by showing thee a thing which it cannot enter 
into—to make thee feel and acknowledge a present God speaking by 
his Spirit—to make sure unto thee the union of Christ with his 
people, speaking in them and by them, not as empty instruments, 
but as conscious spiritual creatures. Ah me! it is the standing 
symbol of the ‘ communion of the saints and of their fellowship with 
the Father and the Son,’ not by means of intelligence, but by means 
of the Holy Ghost. But because intellect cannot grasp it, intellect 
would dash it to the ground, and deny that there is a spirit in 
man deeper than the intellect—that there is a Holy Ghost binding 
God to Jesus and Jesus to the Church, and the church with one 
another, and back again to God. The unknown part of the discourse 
is the symbol of the fountain secret, unseen and unknown—the 
known part of the stream, which issues from the fountain to cherish 
the life of all creatures. Doth a man refuse to drink of the clear 
flowing stream, because he knows not the hidden and secret cavern 
within the bowels of the earth from which it flowed out! Ah! what 
a miscreant (unbelieving) generation it is, and what misdeeds they 
have done under the sight of these sorrowful eyes! I have seen 
God’s mysteries gazed on and laughed at, God’s gentle and entreat- 



EDWARD IRVING. 


209 


ing voice set at nought—all because it issued from a fountain of 
unknown speech which they could not understand. In their igno¬ 
rance they understood not that all which is known issueth from the 
unknown, in order that all knowledge may lead us to all worship. 

“ ‘ When I am praying in my native tongue,’ said one of the 
gifted persons to me, ‘ however fixed my soul be upon God, and Him 
only, I am conscious to other thoughts and desires, which the very 
words I use force in before me. Iam like a man holding straight 
onward to his home full in view, who, though he diverge neither 
to the right hand nor to the left, is ever solicited by the many well 
known objects on every hand of him. But the moment I am visited 
with the Spirit and carried out to God in a tongue which I know 
not, it is as if a deep covering of snow had fallen on all the country 
round, and I saw nothing but the object of my desire and the road 
which leadeth to it. I am more conscious than ever to the presence of 
God. He and He only is in my soul. I am filled with some form 
of the mind of God, be it joy or grief, desire, love, pity, compassion, 
wrath, or indignation; and I am made to utter it in words which 
are full of power over my spirit; but not being accessible to my 
understanding, my devotion is not interrupted by associations or 
suggestions from the visible or intellectual world. I feel myself, 
as it were, shut in with God into his own pavilion, and hidden close 
from the invasions of the world, the devil and the flesh.’ In these 
few words the mystery and the end of the gift of tongues are ac¬ 
curately set forth. 

“ In the same breath, in perfect continuance, sometimes in con¬ 
stant sequence, as word followeth word in common discourse, some¬ 
times with such a pause as a speaker makes to take his breath, the 
English part flows forth in the same fulness of voice, majesty of 
tone, and grandeur of utterance. This is that with which we have 
properly to do—God, and the speaker with the other: and as God 
speaketh in the church for edification, this is always the largest part, 
four times, or ten times, or even twenty times, as much being known 
as is unknown. The unknown is, so far as concerneth us, the sign 
that the known is the message from God, prophesying (preaching) 
under the power of the Spirit, speaking as one is moved by the Holy 
Ghost, and not any offering of the enlightened and pious mind for 
the benefit of the brethren—that it is Jesus—the Head of the Church, 
occupying the speech, and using the tongue of his servant, to speak 
the things which he desireth at that time to be spoken and heard. 

p 


210 • 


EDWARD IRVING. 


Wherein the person is not used as a trumpet merely for speaking 
through, but as an intelligent, conscious, loving, holy creature, to be 
possessed in these his inward parts, and used by the Lord of All, the 

indwelling Head of the Church. This operation of the Holy 

Ghost is very wonderful to behold: the fulness of the mind and 
heart, the rapidity of the utterance, the difficulty and sometimes 
struggling of the organs to get disburdened of it, are not more 
demonstrative of supernatural agency, than is the matter uttered 
demonstrative that this agency is that of the Holy Ghost. Such 
depths of doctrine, such openings of truth, such eagle-glances into 
the mind of God, such purity of love, such earnestness of exhorta¬ 
tion, and, in one word, such heavenly exaltation of spirit, heard I 
never from men’s lips, as I have heard from those speaking in this 
manner by the Holy Ghost. And the same of those prophesyings : 
.... I knew it not to be of man by that which stumbled so many, 
because there were none of the peculiarities of a system—none of 
the speculations of the age—none of the idiosyncrasies of the person 
in it. . . . 

“ If it be true, as the Scriptures teach, and all orthodox divines 
have ever held, that there is a real union by the Spirit between Christ 
and His Church, after the nature of the union between the head and the 
members, which did manifest itself in the primitive Church by the 
fellowship of his holiness and love, and mind, and power; then, as 
this union dependeth not upon time, place, and circumstance, but is 
spiritual, and essential to the Church, the wonder is, not that there 
should in our day be the like manifestation of Christ in the body as 
there were in the apostolic times, but that they should ever have 
ceased: and I feel assured, that, if the Scriptures are to be taken as 
the rule of Christian faith and the principle of all Christian argument, 
the burden of proof lies all upon those who maintain they were not 
intended to continue, and not with those who expect and believe in 
their revival; for the word of God beareth one, and only one, testi¬ 
mony, which is, that the gifts of the Spirit are as much the property 
of the Church as are the graces ; nay, that these two are not sepa¬ 
rate the one from the other, but the outward and inward forms of 
the same indwelling Christ. Wherever the gifts of the Spirit are 
mentioned in the Scriptures, they are spoken of as part and parcel 
of the Church’s endowment, until the time of her perfection come, 
and never divided from those moral and spiritual graces, which all 



EDWARD IRVING. 


211 


confess to be of a permanent endurance* For example, in the insti¬ 
tution of Christian baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, which Christ 
had entered into by going to the Father, and shed down upon the 
disciples in the form of cloven tongues of fire, is promised as the 
end and reward of that Holy Sacrament, in connexion with repen¬ 
tance and remission of sins, .... the baptism with the Holy Ghost 
for speaking with tongues, and prophesying, and other supernatural 
manifestations of power; seeing that this, no less positively than 
the other, is held forth to all whom the Lord shall call to the 
knowledge of his Son. 

“ And if the Christian Church be baptized into the thing which 
took place on the day of Pentecost we should expect to find that 
same thing everywhere acknowledged to be in her throughout the 
Apostolic writings. And so it is. After the Church of Jerusalem, 
which was baptised by Christ himself into the heavenly gift, cometh 

the Church of Samaria (Acts viii).Next comes the Church of 

the Gentiles, first called in the person of Cornelius the good centu¬ 
rion, and his household (Acts x. xi.).Next comes the Church 

of Ephesus (Acts xix.) .... Besides these, we can specify the 
Churches of Galatia, among whom Paul ‘ ministered the spirit and 
wrought miracles ’ (Gal. iv. 5.); and the Church of Corinth, whose 
endowments are given at length (1 Cor. xii. xiii. xiv.); and the 
Church of Rome (Rom. xii.); and all the churches to which Peter’s 
catholic epistle was addressed (1 Peter iv. 10,11.) By these instances, 
against which there cannot be brought one instance to the contrary, 
it is put beyond question, that .... to put forth supernatural 
powers of the Divine nature,... is truly an essential privilege of the 

Christian Church. And that it was the experience of all the 

Churches as well as of those instanced above, to be endowed with 
power from on high, and to manifest the gifts of the Holy Ghost, is 
put beyond question by many incidental expressions, occurring 
everywhere throughout the Apostolical writings.” In proof of this, 
Mr. Irving cites numerous passages from Scripture, which the 
* length of the preceding quotations will not allow me to follow. 

* Whenever can there be a Chubch that is not a Church of gifts? No man can make himself; 
still less can a church. The Spieit, in all its universality is the professed gift of the New 
Jerusalem—the Spirit hymning all praises, lifting all hands in prayers that cast forth all demons, 
blessing all labours, healing all sorrows, speeding all arts, piercing all veils, and catching the 
reflex image of its Lord in all sciences; opening heaven and hallowing earth—the Spirit to do more 
than can be written, is the offer of the Lord to his everlasting Church.”— J. J. G. Wilkinson. 
Note to Improvisations from the Spirit. 

P 2 








212 


EDWARD IRVING. 


As might be expected, the Spiritual manifestations in Mr. Irving’s 
church led to considerable dissension in the body to which he be¬ 
longed, and gave great offence to many. In March, 1832, a formal 
complaint of irregularity was preferred against Mr. Irving, by cer¬ 
tain trustees of his church, to the Presbytery in London; and, not¬ 
withstanding his eloquent defence,* the Court decided that the 
Rev. Edward Irving had “ rendered himself unfit to remain the mi¬ 
nister” of the Caledonian Church, Regent Square, “ and ought to be 
removed therefrom in pursuance of the conditions of the trust-deed 
of the said church.” Within a twelvemonth from this he was 
indicted and deposed from the ministry on a charge of heresy; “ his 
judges being selected from amongst his accusers and executioners.”f 
Just before the sentence of deposition was given, there came “ an 
utterance in power ” from Mr. David Dow, charging those who were 
faithful to arise and depart. Upon which Mr. Irving and Mr. Dow 
made their way out of the church, and the sentence was then for¬ 
mally pronounced. 

A large number of Mr. Irving’s congregation and hearers, how¬ 
ever, accepted his teachings as the truth, and affectionately clung to 
him as their pastor. They formed themselves into a separate church; 
and in the month following his deposition, he was, by the elders of 
that church, “ called and ordained” as its “ Angel,” cr chief pastor. 

One of his biographers, Mr. Wilks, calls this re-ordination, a 
“Baptism for the Dead;” “For whatever its significance to that 
church, it was to him an anointing for his burial, though nearly 
two more years of life remained to him. His public work was over. 
His flesh became wan and flaccid—his raven hair * hoary as with 
extreme age.’ His eye gleamed with an unquiet light, and the 
hectic spot on his pale cheek betrayed the fire burning at his heart.” 
On December the 8th, 1834, he passed to that rest for which his 
weary spirit longed. The last words he was heard to utter wefe, 
“ If I die, I die to the Lord; living and dying I am the Lord’s.” 

Carlyle, who knew and loved him, has testified of him, “ He was 
the freest, brotherliest, bravest, human soul mine ever came in 
contact with: I call him, on the whole, the best man I have ever, 
(after trial enough) found in this world, or ever hope to find.” 

* See Note at the end of the Chapter. 

t This heresy consisted in maintaining that Christ’s human nature was truly human, “ of 
the substance of his mother,” and not, as regards his flesh, different in kind from that of other 
men, but that he was enabled to resist and vanquish its weaknesses and temptations by virtue of 
hie fulness of Divine grace that was in him. 


EDWARD IRVING. 


213 


The “ Catholic Apostolic Church,” of which he may be regarded as 
the founder, though it wisely abstains from identifying itself with his 
name, has gone on steadily increasing since its foundation, gathering 
adherents (a large proportion of them scholars and men of liberal 
education and social status,) not only in England, but in France, Ger¬ 
many, Switzerland, Italy, and America. And that Church, still by 
the essentials of its constitution, provides for the utterance of 
divine messages, by whomsoever sent. 

Mrs. Oliphant, in her Life of Edward Irving , speaking of the 
oracles , or “ gifted persons ” in Mr. Irving’s congregation, says:—“ It 
is certain that Irving faithfully followed them through every kind 
of anguish and martyrdom; that by their sole inspiration a body, 
not inconsiderable either in numbers or influence, has been organized 
and established in being; and that after a lapse of thirty years, 
they still continue to regulate the destinies of that oft disappointed, 
but patient church.” 

Note. —I cite the following passage of Mr. Irving’s defence 
before the London Presbytery:—“We continued in prayer every 
morning, morning by morning, at half-past six o’clock; and the 
Lord was not long in hearing and answering our prayers. He 
sealed first one, and then another, and then another; and gave 
them first enlargement of spirit in their own devotions, when 
their souls were lifted up to God, and they closed with him in near¬ 
ness. He then lifted them up to pray in a tongue which the Apostle 
Paul says he did more than they all. ... I say, as it was with Paul, at 
the proper time, at the fit time, namely, in their private devotions, 
when they were rapt up nearest to God: the Spirit took them, and 
made them speak in a tongue, sometimes speaking words in a 
tongue, and by degrees, according as they sought more and more 
unto God, this gift was perfected until they were moved to speak in 

a tongue, even in the presence of others.Then, in process of 

time, perhaps at the end of a fortnight, the gift perfected itself, so 
that they were made to speak in a tongue and to prophesy; that 
is, to set forth in English words for exhortation, for edification, and 
comfort; for that is the proper definition of prophesying, as was 
testified by one of the witnesses.” 

One of the witnesses examined on this occasion was a “gifted 
person,” or medium. 

In reference to the supernatural power under which he was 



EDWARD IRVING. 


314 

alleged to have spoken, he was asked—“ Could you abstain from 
speaking P” 

Ans. “ By quenching the Spirit, or resisting the Spirit.” 

Q. “ Then I am to understand that it is not supernatural P” 

Ans. You are to understand, if you are guided by what I believe, 
that it is a supernatural power; for I had it not once, and I cannot 
exercise it when I will: I cannot will to exercise it.” 

Q. “ Do you understand the tongue in which you speak P” 

Ans. “ ISTo, because I have not the gift of interpretation.” 

Dr. Btjshnell, in his Nature and the Supernatural, gives the fol¬ 
lowing relation :—“ A very near Christian friend, intelligent in the 
highest degree, and as perfectly reliable to me as my right hand, 
who was present at a rather private social gathering of Christian 
disciples, assembled to converse and pray together, as in reference 
to some of the higher possibilities of Christian sanctification, relates 
that after one of the brethren had been speaking, in a strain of dis¬ 
couraging self-accusation, another present shortly rose, with a 
strangely beaming look, and fixing his eye on the confessing brother, 
broke out in a discourse of sounds, wholly unintelligible, though 
apparently a true language, accompanying the utterances with a 
very strange and peculiarly impressive gesture, such as he never 
made at any other time; coming finally to a kind of pause, and com¬ 
mencing again, as if at the same point, to go over in English, with 
exactly the same gestures, what had just been said. It appeared to 
be an interpretation, and the matter of it was a beautifully emphatic 
utterance of the great principle of self-renunciation, by which the 
desired victory over self is to be obtained. There had been no con¬ 
versation respecting gifts of any kind, and no reference to their 
possibility. The instinct of prudence threw them on observing a 

general silence, and it is a curious fact that the public in H-have 

never, to this hour, been startled by so much as a rumour of the 
gift of tongues, neither has the name of the speaker been associated 
with so much as a surmise of the real or supposed fact, by which he 
would be, perhaps unenviably distinguished. It has been a great 
trial to him, it is said, to submit himself to this demonstration, 
which has recurred several times.” 

_ May not the tongue spoken on these occasions, have been a real 
spirit language? I chanced myself to be once present at what 
seemed a sort of Experience Meeting of Latter Day Saints, when a 
quiet, decent looking woman, suddenly arose, and began a kind of 


Mit. Baxter’s narrative. 


215 


chant in apparently a rich musical language, and which ceased as 
abruptly as it began. One of the persons present, probably an 
elder, inquired, “ Sister, have you the interpretation ?” To which 
Bhe quietly replied, “No.” It appeared as if they considered an 
occurrence of this kind as by no means unusual. 

In Mrs. Crossland’s Light in the Valley , we read of several distinct 
spirit languages written by the hands of several mediums personally 
known to her. “ One of them an author of repute, and M.A. of the 
University of Oxford.” The following passage from her book is cor¬ 
roborative of the statements quoted from Mr. Irving :—“ Be it re¬ 
membered that the writers of a spiritual language do not understand 
its meaning; and wonderful wisdom is evinced in that plan which 
makes the writer one, the interpreter another. Those writing mediums 
whose hands are moved to write only in their mother tongue acknow¬ 
ledge that they are constantly perplexed, and find continually that 
the communications are impeded or broken off by the action of their 
own minds guessing what is coming, as word after word drops from 
their pen. Evidently this interference of the medium’s own mind 
with the spirit action disturbs the subtle forces which are at work. 
But when the spirit language is produced the case is wholly diffe¬ 
rent, for the medium cannot even conjecture the meaning of the 
hieroglyphics his hand traces; and consequently his mind remains 
in a passive state on the subject, no way interfering with the action 
of his pen.” 

(See also Swedenborg’s Heaven and Hell. Chaps, on The Speech 
of Angels, and on Writings i/n Heaven.) 


CHAPTER XXI. 

SPIRITUAL GIFTS : CONTINUATION.—MR. BAXTER’S NARRATIVE. 

It is well sometimes to examine a subject under different and con¬ 
trasted lights, as by doing so we are less liable to extreme and one¬ 
sided views of it; and are more likely to attain an impartial, and 
probably, correct judgment, by thus seeing it all round, and com¬ 
paring its different aspects* In the case of the Spiritual Manifesta¬ 
tions detailed in the last chapter, the same general facts are presented 
from an opposite point of view, together with many additional par- 




216 


me. Baxter’s narrative. 


ticulars in A Narrative of Facts, characterizing the Supernatural 
Manifestations in members of Mr. Irving’s congregation, and other 
individuals in England and Scotland, and formerly in the writer him - 
self By Kobert Baxter. 

This “ Narrative,” as the title implies, was written by a formerly 
“ gifted person,” whose gift was exercised chiefly amongst Mr. 
Irving’s congregation; but who finally abandoned and denounced 
the work as “ a delusion of Satan.” One therefore intimately ac¬ 
quainted with the “ Supernatural Manifestations,” and not likely 
to display them in too favourable a light. First, let us look at the 
writer’s Facts, then compare his inferences with those of Mr. Irving 
and with the facts themselves; and look at both facts and inferences 
by the additional light of more recent and widely extended facts. 

Mr. Baxter fully, though reluctantly, admits the supernatural 
character of the manifestations. He is not anxious to prove it super¬ 
natural; he would be glad to account for it otherwise. “Excite¬ 
ment,” “Eccentricity,” “Derangement,” he tells us, are “utterly 
insufficient to account for these operations. Men far from excitable 
in their general state of mind, and in nothing eccentric, have been 
found among the most devoted followers. The workings have 
moreover, been as strong in the privacy of the closet as in the 
tumult of crowded assemblies—and when once the mind became 
open to such workings, no change of outward circumstances has 
ever had any extensive or perceptible control over it. Neither will 
derangement furnish the required solution. The operations of this 
power were most systematic as well as sympathetic.” “ He has often 
endeavoured to pursue the course of circumstances, and account for 
the occurrences from excitement, and the frenzied workings of a 
distempered mind; but he finds himself utterly at a loss, and, with¬ 
out shutting his eyes to most of the material features of the case, he 
could not honestly come to such a conclusion.” 

I present, in the author’s own language, some of the more striking 
and characteristic incidents recorded in this Narrative of Facts. 

Mr. Baxter “had heard many particulars of the extraordinary 
manifestations which had occurred at Port Glasgow,” and thought 
that there were sufficient grounds in Scripture and in the existing 
state of the church and of the world to warrant a fair investigation of 
them. Being called up to London by professional engagements in 
August 1831, he “ had a strong desire to attend at the prayer meetings 
which were then privately held by those who spoke in the power, and 


mr. Baxter’s narrative. 


217 


those who sought for the gifts.” Having obtained an introduction, 
he attended, and heard the “ utterances,” both in the unknown and 
in the English tongue. In the latter, there was, he says—“ A cutting 
rebuke to all who were present, and applicable to my own state - of 
mind in particular. ... In the midst of the feeling of awe and 
reverence which this produced, I was myself seized upon by the 
power; and in much struggling against it, was made to cry out, and 
myself to give forth a confession of my own sin in the matter for 

which we were rebuked. There was in me at the time of the 

utterance, very great excitement; and yet I was distinctly conscious 
of a power acting upon me beyond the mere power of excitement. 

“ From this period, for the space of five months, I had no utter¬ 
ances in public; though, when engaged alone in private prayer, the 
power would come down upon me, and cause me to pray with strong 
crying and tears for the state of the church. On one occasion, about 
a month after I had received the power, whilst in my study, endea¬ 
vouring to lift up my soul to God in prayer, my mind was so filled 
with worldly concerns that my thoughts were wandering to them 
continually. Again and again I began to pray, and before a minute 
had passed, I found my thoughts had wandered from my prayer 
back into the world. I was mnch distressed at this temptation, and 
sat down, lifting up a short ejaculation to God for deliverance; when 
suddenly the power came down upon me, and I found myself lifted 
up in soul to God, my wandering thoughts at once riveted, and 
calmness of mind given me. By a constraint I cannot describe, I 
was made to speak—at the same time shrinking from utterance, 
and yet rejoicing in it. The utterance was a prayer that the Lord 
would have mercy upon me and deliver me from fleshly weakness, 
and graciously bestow upon me the gifts of his Spirit. This prayer, 
was forced from me by the constraint of the power which acted upon 
me; and the utterance was so loud, that I put the handkerchief to 
my mouth to stop the sound that I might not alarm the house. 
When I had reached the last word (of the prayer) the power died off 
me, and I was left just as before, save in amazement at what had 
passed, and filled, as it seemed to me, with thankfulness to God for 
his great love so to manifest to me. With the power there came upon 
me a strong conviction—‘ This is the Spirit of God; what you are 
now praying is of the Spirit of God, and must, therefore, be the mind 
of God, and what you are asking will surely be given to you.’ 

“In the utterances of the power which subsequently occurred. 



218 


ME. baxtee’s naeeative. 


many were accompanied with the flashing in of conviction on the 
mind, like lightning rooting itself in the earth. Whilst other 
utterances, not being so accompanied, only acting in the way of 
authoritative communication; upon which the mind was left to form 
its own conclusion and conviction. This was not singly my own 
case, but the case with many others; and my persuasion is that 
such a manner of conviction is a part of the power which a spirit 
exercises over us.” 

In January, 1832, Mr. Baxter again visited the brethren in London, 
and found the gifts in Mr. Irving’s Church being exercised in the 
public congregation. The day following his arrival, being called 
upon by the pastor to read, he opened upon the prophet Malachi, 
and read the fourth chapter. “As I read,” says Mr. Baxter, 
“ the power came upon me, and I was made to read in the power. 
My voice, raised far beyond its natural pitch, with constrained 
repetition of parts, and with the same inward uplifting which at 
the presence of the power I had always before experienced. When 
I knelt down to pray, I was carried out to pray in the power for the 
presence and blessing of God in the midst of the Church; in all this 
I had great joy and peace, without any of the strugglings which had 
attended my former utterances in the power.” 

Mr. Baxter presents us with the following incident, which strik¬ 
ingly illustrates one of the modes of spiritual action on the mind; 
and, also, that spiritual communications are given which are foreign 
to the mind of the medium by whom they are uttered. “ On the 
Sunday following, the power came in the form of revelation and 
opening of Scripture. I was constrained to read the twelfth chapter 
of Kevelations, containing the prophecy of the woman and the red 
dragon; and as I read, the opening of it was just as light flitting 
across the mind, opening a portion and then passing away, and leaving 
me in darkness: the power all the time resting upon me. A passage 
would be opened in the clearest manner, and then the understanding 
of it would quickly pass away; until portion after portion having been 
opened and shut in this manner, the whole chapter was at once 
opened in connection, and an interpretation given, which I not only 
had never thought of, but which was at variance with my previous 
systematic construction of it” 

“ The power,” as Mr. Baxter calls it, came upon him not only in 
the public congregation, at prayer meetings, and at his own private 
devotions; but, also, when present at the baptism of infants, at the 


mb. Baxter’s narrative. 


219 


communion table, and in social intercourse. Here is an instance of 
the latter:—He was spending the evening at a friend’s house with 
Mr. Irving and three or four other persons. Some matter of con¬ 
troversy having arose, Mr. Irving offered a prayer that they might 
all be led into the truth. After prayer, “ Mrs. J. 0.,” (Cardale) “ was 
made to testify.” Mr. Irving followed with some observations:— 
“And,” says Mr. Baxter, “whilst he was going on to ask some 
question, the power fell upon me, and I was made to speak; and for 
two hours or upwards, with very little interval, the power continued 
upon me, and I gave forth what we all regarded as prophecies 
concerning the Church and the Nation. .. . The power which then 
rested on me was far more mighty than before, laying down my 
mind and body in perfect obedience, and carrying me on without 
confusion or excitement. Excitement there might appear to a by¬ 
stander, but to myself it was calmness and peace. Every former 
visitation of the power had been very brief; but now it continued, 
and seemed to rest upon me all the evening. The things I was 
made to utter, flashed in upon my mind without forethought, without 
any plan or arrangement: all was the work of the moment, and I 
was as the passive instrument of the power that used me. ... I was 
made to bid those present ask instruction upon any subject on which 
they sought to be taught of God; and to several questions which 
were asked, answers were given by me in the power. One in par¬ 
ticular was so answered, with such reference to the case of which in 
myself, I was wholly ignorant as to convince the person who asked it 
that the spirit speaking in me knew those circumstances and alluded 
to them in the answer.” 

The following anecdote seems to evidence the action of an invisible 
intelligence, possessing more than mortal discernment:—“It was, 
also, told her (Mrs. Baxter) as a sign to prove this relation to be of 
God, that as soon as I came home, when she came to me, I should 
gay—‘Speak, speak;’ and then, after she had told me the revelation, 
I should speak to her in the power, and beginning—‘ It is of the 
Lord,’ should fully explain what had been revealed to her. When I 
came home, I thought she seemed much troubled, and, unconscious 
of what had occurred, I said to her— 4 Speak, speak.’ Upon this, she 
told me the revelation, not saying anything about my speaking 
afterwards; and when she had left me, the power immediately came 
upon me to utterance, and I was made to say, in great power— 4 It is 
of the Lord,’ and then to open and explain it.” 


220 


mr. Baxter’s narrative. 


“On another occasion, unknown to each other, we (himself and 
wife) each received, at the same time, a revelation concerning some 
of our kindred, which showed us the work of a Spirit upon us. 

“ The instances of obvious discernment of thoughts are so nume¬ 
rous as to take away the possibility of their being accidental coinci¬ 
dences. In the case of one individual, when praying in silence in his 
own room, in three or four instances, answers were given, in the 
power, by a gifted person sitting in the adjoining room. And in 
almost all the persons with whom I have conversed, who were 
brought into a belief of the power, instances of obvious discernment 
of their thoughts, or references to their particular state of mind, 
have been so striking, as to conduce to their recognition of the 
power.” 

The “ utterances in power” through Mr. Baxter, were not only in 
the unknown, as well as in the English tongue, but, also, though but 
rarely, in foreign languages; among others, in Italian and Spanish, 
with both of which he was unacquainted.* Incidentally, Mr. Baxter 
makes mention, also, of “ a letter I had written in the power;” and 
again, of a “passage written under the dictation of the power.” 
Spiritualists are often puzzled, and sometimes annoyed, at not being 
able to obtain spiritual manifestations in the presence of sceptical 
friends or visitors; or, at not obtaining them then so powerfully as 
at other times. Mr. Baxter testifies to the same fact in his experience, 
and in the experience of all who then spoke “ in the power.” He 
says:—“I had almost invariably found, that when in private, in 
presence of persons who denied the work, my mouth was shut and 
the power restrained; or, as I then looked upon it, the Spirit was 
then quenched because of their unbelief. It was not my own case 
alone, but all who spoke in the power, found the same quenching 
among unbelievers; so that when unbelievers came in private to 
hear the utterance, either no utterance was given, or such a feeble 
utterance as failed to convey to them the impression of a supernatural 
power.” This, however, though generally, was not uniformly the 
case, (in the present day it is very far from being so), indeed, the 
paragraph from which the above passage is quoted is followed by a 
direct instance to the contrary. Again, the identity in the mode of 

* The Editor of the Morning Watch testifies to having heard Hebrew words chanted in the 
power by a “ gifted person” unacquainted with the language. Mary Campbell thought the tongue 
given to her on one occasion was that of the Pelew Islands; but I know not whence she derived 
this thought, unless from spiritual impression. 


mr. Baxter’s narrative. 


221 


spiritual action upon those who were then called “ gifted persons,” 
and upon those who are now called “ mediums,” is evidenced in the 
following passage:—“ I (Mr. Baxter) questioned those who spoke in 
the tongues, whether they had the words and sentences given, or 
yielded their tongues to the impulse of utterance, without having 
them. They answered almost entirely the latter, though sometimes, 
also, the former.” This is true at the present day, not only of 
speaking but of writing mediums: except, that in the latter case, 
the hand instead of the tongue is thus yielded to the controlling 
power. 

Mr. Baxter insists most emphatically that these spiritual exercises 
were entirely independent of his volition. “ For myself,” he says, 
“ I had never had any command over the power, and though I could 
refrain from speaking, yet I could not speak in power when I would, 
nor continue speaking when I had begun, unless the power continued 
with me. Long after I gave up the work as delusion, the power so 
continued with me, that I was obliged to resist it continually; when 
in prayer, the power would come and carry out my utterance in 
power, and I was obliged to stop to resist it.” 

I have intimated that Mr. Baxter finally abandoned the work as a 
delusion of the devil. He was led to do so by what he conceived to 
be inconsistencies and discrepancies in certain of the “ utterances 
also, because some of the predictions given “ in the power,” were not 
fulfilled according to his expectations: and, chiefly, because on certain 
delicate and subtle questions of theology, the “ utterances” confirmed 
the views of Mr. Irving in contradistinction to his own. The state¬ 
ments on which he founded this conclusion, and the reasoning by 
which he supported it, did not pass at the time without sharp 
comment. The Morning Watch affirmed:—“ We have been positively 
assured, by all the persons resident in London who are named in Mr. 
Baxter’s “ Narrative,” that the inconsistencies imputed to them are 
founded in mistake, and the words they are said to have uttered 
were not spoken by them.” “ Misinterpretation of what was spoken,” 
says the same writer, “ lies at the root of all Mr. Baxter’s wanderings, 
it pervades the whole narrative; and he himself was able to discover 
it in some instances, and ought to have detected it in all.” “ The 
discrepancies which Mr. Baxter asserts he discovered between the 
different utterances of the spirit, are not so great as the discrepancies 
which infidels profess to find between different parts of Scripture: 
the cavils of infidelity Mr. Baxter has no difficulty in answering, but 


222 


mr. Baxter’s narrative. 


his own less specious cavils he thinks unanswerable.” Mr. Irving 
acknowledges Mr. Baxter’s personal integrity, but attributes his 
“fall” to his disobedience to the utterances of the Spirit; to his not 
being, as we should now say, sufficiently passive in the exercise of his 
mediumship:—to his egotism:—“ Mr. Baxter almost always had him¬ 
self uppermost in his thoughts, and so became the subject to which 
he bent the interpretation of his utterances—and to his endeavour 
to exercise functions that were incompatible. Apostrophising Mr. 
Baxter, he says:-—“Therefore it is thou hast fallen, because thou 
wouldst be both giver and receiver, both utterer and container, both 
prophet and angel, and pastor and teacher; and so, by usurping all 
offices, which dignity pertaineth alone to Jesus, thou hast lost all 
and become nothing but a stumbling block in the way of God’s 
children.” 

Concerning the “utterances” through Mr. Baxter, he says:— 
“ Yerily there be no parallel to the words which he spake, nor to the 
manner and method of his discourse, but those which the universal 
Church hath stamped by the name of the Word of God;” and he 
intimates that if the “ glorious truths” uttered in defiance of Baxter’s 
“ formal intellect,” were given forth by Satan, why “ then Satan 
may have written all the oracles of God.”* 

For myself, I cannot without qualification, accept either the con¬ 
clusion of Mr. Irving, or of Mr. Baxter, With the former, I devoutly 
acknowledge that all spiritual, as well as all temporal, gifts are of 
God; that—“Every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh 
down from the Father of lights ;” but from all that I can perceive of 
the principles of the Divine Government, as displayed in the con¬ 
stitution and course of Nature, and from all that I can learn of other 
spiritual manifestations, both before and since Mr. Irving’s time, and 

* In connection with this question, the following passage from Mr. Irving’s Narrative in 
Fraser is worth consideration:—“We asked our Heavenly Father, we entreated and besought 
him for the Holy Ghost: we met morning after morning and confessed our sins, and perused his 
Word, and exhorted one another, and pleaded the cause of his Church before him; we lamented 
and bewailed our low and lost estate; we waited patiently before the Lord at all times and ceased 
not—and is it to be believed that the Lord, instead of the Holy Ghost, should send us a delusion of 
the mind, or a possession of Satan? We have not such thoughts of God; we know better in 
whom we have believed. Had we gone to Him without a warrant in His Word, had we asked for 
what is above our privileges—for what the Church never had, or never was intended to have, we 
might have been punished for our profane ambition; hut asking for the Holy Ghost as He was 
heretofore possessed by the Church, as we are baptised into the hope of Him- asking His gift for holy 
uses, and asking it in true Catholic love to the whole Church of God—which we know in ail 
sincerity and purity of conscience we did-we cannot think such thoughts of God—we dare not— 
as that He hath cheated and deceived us.” 


mu. Baxter’s narrative. 


223 


with which they fully accord, I am led to conclude that these 
“spiritual gifts,” and “manifestations,” come to us, as all things do, 
primarily, indeed, from God, but mediately, through channels 
adapted to our limited and imperfect natures; chiefly, I believe, 
through God’s angel “ministering spirits”—those “servants of his 
who do his pleasure.” It may even be, as conjectured by Dr. Henry 
Edwards, that—“ Perhaps the influences of the Holy Spirit, are 
nothing but the holy thoughts and feelings with which we are 
inspired by these celestial friends.” “ The Divine Majesty,” says 
Luther, “ does not speak to man immediately; human nature could 
not survive the least syllable of the Divine utterance; we could not 
endure his speaking to us without a medium.” By the law of 
spiritual influx, we may enter, into communion with the Divine 
Mind, and receive of the Divine Spirit, while the Eternal splendours 
are mercifully tempered to our weak sight and limited capacities. 

(True, there is a law of infernal, as well as of celestial and divine 
influx; but we may, in their operation, discriminate them by their 
different fruit. “ A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither 
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit;” and “the fruit of the 
(Holy) Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good¬ 
ness, faith, meekness, temperance.” If, however, I can not wholly 
coincide with Mr. Irving’s conclusion on this matter, still less can I 
with that of Mr. Baxter. The facts in his Narrative , and his own 
statements, will not allow me to do so. It appears to me, that he 
must himself have had misgivings about it. In turning over his 
pages, I find such passages as the following,—“ The word spoken 
seemed to be the Gospel of Christ, and the effect upon the hearers a 
prostration of pride, and a devotedness and apparent patient waiting 
upon God.” “ Whenever the power rested upon me, leading me up 
to prayer, or praise, or testimony, or thanksgiving, I seemed to 
have joy and peace in the Holy Ghost, and I cannot even now by 
feeling alone, discern that it was not truly such.”—“We all felt as 
though the Lord indeed was resolving our doubts, and graciously 
condescending by his Spirit to teach us by open voice.”—“ After the 
Sacrament had been administered, when kneeling to return thanks, 
the power came upon me largely, though the impulse was not to 
utterance; my tongue was riveted as I was repeating the response, 
and my soul filled with joy and thanksgiving; and such a presence 
of God, as it seemed to me, as exceeded any peace and joy I had 
ever before tasted at that holy Sacrament.”—“The supernatural 


224 


mr. Baxter’s narrative. 


nature of the work was so clear—the testimony to Jesus so full—the 
outpouring of prayer, and, as it seemed to me, the leading towards 
communion with God so constant in it; that I treated every doubt 
as a temptation, I rested implicitly upon the text * Every Spirit that 
confesseth Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:’ and felt assured 
that no spirit making that confession could be of Satan. I had 
heard the confession made several times by the Spirit which spoke 
in myself and others, and, resting in the confession, I persuaded 
myself I was resting in the faithfulness of God, and that his faithful¬ 
ness was a sure defence.”—“ From the time the power of the Spirit 
came upon me in London, I have daily, at intervals, been conscious 
of a powerful inworking of the Spirit: leading me up into com¬ 
munion in Christ, and giving me a fellowship with the mind of 
Christ, and at times leading me, by presenting portions of Scripture, 
into an apprehension of the purpose of God in Christ, which I never 
before knew.”*—“ I have been much confounded by the fact, occurring 
in this instance, as also in most others of the public testimonies in 
preaching; that Christ was preached in such power, and with such 
clearness, and the exhortations to repentance so energetic and 
arousing, that it is hard to believe the person delivering it, could be 
under the delusion of Satan.” 

No wonder indeed that in attempting to reconcile these facts with 
his notion of their satanic origin, the poor man was “much con¬ 
founded,” and that he felt it “hard to believe” in such silly 
impiety. Truly, as he says, “ It is lamentable to see to what depths 
of absurdity we may unconsciously under delusion be driven.” 
That “ energetic exhortations to repentance,” the “ outpourings of 
prayer,” the “ testimony to Jesus,” could be the work of the Devil, 
and that the effect should be “joy and peace in the Holy Ghost” 
a filling of the soul “ with peace and joy and thanksgiving,” and a 
sense “ of the presence of God;” a “ leading towards communion 
with God,” and “ a fellowship with the mind of Christ,” and a seem¬ 
ing “ prostration of pride, and a devotedness and apparent patient 
waiting upon God;”—that all this should be “ a delusion of Satan,” 
is, in my judgment, a delusion so monstrous that it could never have 
been embraced by our author but for his belief that the Spiritual 
Manifestations he had experienced and witnessed must all be at¬ 
tributed to one and the same spiritual origin—and that if all could 

* This quotation is from a letter dated 14th October, 1831, inserted in Mr. Baxter’s Appendix, 
and written before his change of opinion as to the nature and origin of the “ gifts.” 


mr. Baxter’s narrative. 


225 


not be attributed to God’s immediate presence and action in and 
upon the “ gifted personsthen, the whole must be a lying wonder 
from the Devil. I think the facts narrated by himself, if he had 
exercised a little discrimination, might have taught him better. 

Thus, he tells us, that:—“A stranger to the Scotch Church, came 
up from the country and spoke in a power in the midst of the con¬ 
gregation. He was rebuked either by Mr. Irving or one of those 
speaking in the Spirit. Afterwards, being called into the vestry, 
Mr. T. (Taplin,) one of the gifted persons, with Mr. Irving, reasoned 
with him, to show him, from the nature of his utterance, that the 
power could not be of God. The man was obstinate, and would not 
yield, when suddenly Mr. T. was made to speak to him in an 
unknown tongue, in a tone of rebuke, and the man fell down upon 
the ground crying for mercy. Afterwards, he went to two others of 
the gifted persons at their own houses; and, wishing to come in and 
speak to them, he was again rebuked in the power; and, as if by 
force of the word, was cast down upon the ground, foaming and 
struggling like a bound demoniac. The gifted persons were then 
made to pray in the power for him, and, after a short interval, he 
became calmed and went away.” Again, at the close of one of the 
meetings, “ Mrs. C. (Cardale) was made to cry out in a most piercing 
utterance, that there was some one in the midst of us who was 
provoking the Lord by jealousy, envy, and hard thoughts of his 
servants the prophets. . . . The cry again went forth, and my 
voice was mingled with Mrs. C’s. declaring the person who 

was meant was conscious of it.I was made in power to pray 

the Lord to discover the offender, and ease the consciences of his 
children. But after some time spent in this state, seeing the person 

was not found, we prepared to go home.I turned round to 

Mr. Irving, intending to ask all present to kneel down to pray, when 
Mr. Irving silently pointed to a person who stood by, and looking to 
him I saw a power resting upon him, and he struggling to give 
utterance. I paused, and when utterance broke from him, instead of 
articulate words, nothing but muttering followed, and with this an 
expression of countenance most revolting. Lifting up a prayer to 
God to judge his own cause, and preserve us from judging unjustly 
of a brother; almost at the same moment an utterance broke from 
Mrs. 0., and from myself; ‘It is an evil spirit.’ A form of exorcism 
was then uttered in the power though not attended with immediate 
success.” 

Q 




226 


me. Baxter’s narrative. 


Mr. Baxter also mentions the case of two children of a pious and 
exemplary clergyman in Gloucestershire, who, under a supernatural 
power, were made to speak—“ With such power of argument and 
exhortation, as might be said to surpass many able ministers, and 
certainly quite out of the compass of children of their age and 
understandingbut when a confession of Christ was demanded of 
the Spirit in one of them; at first, the Spirit sought to evade it, and, 
when the demand was persisted in, “ Paleness and agitation increased 
over the child, till an utterance broke from him ‘ I will never confess 
it.’ ” And when the false Spirit was commanded “ in the name of 
Jesus, to come out of the child;” “as the child afterwards described 
his feelings, he felt as though a coldness was removed from his 
heart, and passed away from him.” Subsequently, it was only by 
resisting the power that he became entirely freed from it. Surely, 
the difference in character between these, and the former instances 
is sufficiently obvious, and should have led Mr. Baxter to attribute 
them to an entirely different spiritual source. 

Mr. Baxter tells us that Mr. Irving found a solution of the difficul¬ 
ties which troubled himself in the conclusion that the utterances 
were of “varying origin,”—“that the utterances at one time might 
be of God, and at another time of Satan, even in the same person.” 
Regarding the “ gifted persons” as vessels through which the spiri¬ 
tual power could be poured out, and received by others; this “solu¬ 
tion” seems to me the most satisfactory one that has been pro¬ 
pounded—the only one that adequately meets all the facts of the 
case;—one, too, that is in perfect analogy with common experience; 
—for does not the Spirit of God strive with every man ; and is not 
every man also subject to the temptations and suggestions of an evil 
power ? Why should we be admonished to “ Try the Spirits whether 
they are of God”—if it were not that some Spirits who enter into 
communion with us are of God; and others, the spiritual children 
of him who was a liar from the beginning and whose works they 
do? 

Mrs. Oliphant in her Life of Edward Irving, says:—“Mr. Baxter’s 
Narrative of Facts, intended to prove that the whole matter was a 
delusion, is in reality by far the strongest evidence in favour of the 
truth and genuine character of these spiritual manifestations which 
I have met with. After reading such a narrative, it is impossible to 
dream of trickery, and very difficult to believe in mere delusion; 
although the sole object of the writer, in the extraordinary and 


mr. Baxter’s narrative. 


227 


touching tale, is to show that he had deceived himself and was no 
prophet.” 

It is suggestive to note the singular identity between the pheno¬ 
mena manifested in the church under Mr. Irving’s ministration, and 
elsewhere, at this time, and those observed during the late revival in 
Ireland. On this point we need no better authority than that of 
Archdeacon Stopeord. Speaking of the peculiar cry which he noticed 
in some who were suddenly stricken at the revival meetings, he 
says :—“ My first acquaintance with the peculiar character of that 
cry was singular. Nearly thirty years ago, in Mr. Irving’s chapel in 
London, I heard Miss —— speak in an unknown tongue. That 
produced on me one of the most permanent impressions I have re¬ 
ceived in life. I never for a moment believed in it as inspired; yet I 
felt it as a sound such as I had never heard before. Long years passed 
away, and that sound still dwelt upon my memory as something un¬ 
earthly and unaccountable. Many years after, in the first serious 
case of this kind that I had to attend, a physician told me at the 
outset to mark the peculiar character of the cry. That moment it 
flashed upon my memory; it was, with some slight modification, but 
in its character essentially the same, the unmistakeable cry of Irving’s 
prophetess ! a sound that while I live I never again can mistake or 
misinterpret. That cry I have now recognized in its most unmis¬ 
takeable form in Belfast. I have also recognized every other symptom 
and phenomenon as what I have formerly witnessed , and I have seen or 
heard of none beside .” In another place he addresses a warning voice, 
founded on the same recognition:—“ Let the Church of Scotland 
look to this in time. This is Irving cmd his prophetesses over again.” 


CHAPTEE XXII. 

SPIRITUAL GIFTS:—THE GIFT OF HEALING. 

Some of the most conspicuous and beneficent miracles recorded in 
the New Testament, are those of healing “ all manner of diseases.” 
Yet we are told of the Saviour himself, that at a certain place—“ He 
did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Matt, 
xiii, 58.)* When soon after, some of the disciples came to Him, and 
asked why they could not cast out the evil spirit from one possessed; 

Q 2 



228 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 


His answer was :—“Because of your unbelief.” (Matt, xxii, 20.) And 
when He touched the eyes of the two blind men, and they were 
opened, it was with the words:—“ According to your faith be it unto 
you.” (Matt, ix, 29). If this is indeed the true law of spiritual and 
divine operation, we need not wonder that as the faith of the Church 
has declined, in later times almost to zero, the divine gift of healing, 
and other supernatural powers, should be seldom witnessed. God 
has not, however, in this, any more than in other matters, left him¬ 
self without a witness; simple and believing souls, in every age, have 
found that the “mighty works” done of old, are still possible to 
faith. Strange, indeed, it is, that despite Christ’s promise and decla¬ 
ration to the contrary, those who claim to be the servants and 
the teachers of His gospel, should maintain that these have ceased. 
From their habit of reasoning in a circle, it is difficult to deal with 
such minds. They first and entirely gratuitously assume that the 
age of miracles is passed; and when facts are adduced proving the 
contrary, you are met with the statement—‘ Oh! these things are im¬ 
possible, because the age of miracles is passed.’ Were evidence of 
any avail, it would be easy to show that, together with other spiritual 
operations and “ mighty works,” cases of healing by supernatural 
power have been continued, especially in answer to believing prayer, 
from the first Christian century to the present time. As remarked 
by the Rev. Baptist Noel :—“ Supernatural answers to prayer have 
been known in all ages.” Among many modern instances of this, I 
may refer to that of Luther, who, by his prayers, was the means of 
saving from, I might say, in death, both Melancthon and Myconius. 
The latter, as he believed on his death-bed, had written Luther a 
farewell letter, but on receiving a reply from Luther informing him 
of his prayers in his behalf, “ it was,” he said, “ as if he had heard 
the voice of Christ, saying—‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And when 
really about to die, some time afterwards, he wrote to Luther not to 
detain him by his prayers. 

Baxter writes : —“ If it were convenient here to make particular 
mention of men’s names, I could name you many, who of late have 
received such strange preservations, even against the common course 
of nature, that might convince an atheist of the finger of God there¬ 
in.”—“Some in desperate diseases of body, some in other apparent 
dangers, delivered so suddenly, or so much against the common 
course of nature, when all the best remedies have failed, ‘that no 
second cause could have had any hand in their deliverance.”—“ How 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 229 

many times have I known the prayer of faith to save the sick, when 
all physicians have given them up as dead? It hath been my own 
case more than once, or twice, or ten times. When means have all 
failed, and the highest art or reason have sentenced me hopeless, 
yet have I been relieved by the prevalence of fervent prayer, and 
that, as the physician saith, tuto, citd, et jucunde” 

To do justice, however, to this branch of the subject, would 
require a volume. In this chapter, I propose simply to refer some¬ 
what more particularly to some remarkable cases of healing, (adverted 
to in a previous chapter,) believed to be by supernatural power, 
occurring at the time of Mr. Irving’s ministrations, and by Mr. 
Irving and his friends attributed to the operation of the same Divine 
Spirit as the “ utterances in power,” to which the reader’s attention 
has been directed. 

Mrs. Oliphant, in her Life of Edward Irving, after giving an 
account of Isabella and Mary Campbell; and of the latter, “ in the 
power,” speaking in “ the tongue,” as detailed in my next chapter, 
goes on to say:—“ On the opposite shores of Clyde, in the little 
town of Port Glasgow, dwelt a family, distinguished like these two 
young Campbells, for a profound and saintly piety, which had 
marked them out from their neighbours, and attracted them many 
friends out of their own condition. The leading members of this 
household were two brothers; according to all report, men of the 
soberest, steadfast life, quietly labouring at their business, and in 
no way likely to be the subject of ecstatic emotion. But with results 
more startling and wonderful still, the newly awakened power 
glided over the loch and river, to the devout and prayerful house of 
the Macdonalds. Touching first upon an invalid sister, it burst 
upon the elder brother with an impulse more extraordinary than any 
mere utterance. James Macdonald had returned from the building- 
yard, where he pursued his daily business, to his mid-day dinner, 
after the calm usage of a labouring man. He found the invalid 
of the household in the agonies of this new inspiration. The awed 
and wondering family concluded with reverential gravity that she 
was dying, and thus accounted to themselves for the singular 
exhibition they saw. ‘At dinner-time, James and George came 
home as usual,’ says the simple family narrative, ‘whom she then 
addressed at great length, concluding with a solemn prayer for 
James, that he might at that time be endowed with the power of the 
Holy Ghost. Almost instantly, James calmly said, ‘I have got it.’ 


230 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 


He walked to the window, and stood silent for a minute or two. I 
looked at him, and almost trembled; there was such a change upon 
his whole countenance. He then, with a step and manner of the 
most indescribable majesty, walked up to ’s bedside, and ad¬ 
dressed her in those words of the 20th Psalm, ‘Arise, and stand 
upright/ He repeated the words, took her by the hand, and she 
arose. After this wonderful event, with inconceivable human com¬ 
posure, the homely record continues, ‘ we all quietly sat down and 
took our dinneran anti-climax to the extraordinary agitation and 
excitement of the scene just described, which no fiction dared 
attempt, and which nothing but reality, always so daring in its 
opposition to recognised laws of nature, could venture to have added 
to the description. The young woman was not merely raised from 
her sick-bed for the moment, but cured; and the next step taken by 
the brother, so suddenly and miraculously endowed, was to write to 
Mary Campbell, then apparently approaching death, conveying to 
her the same command which had been so effectual in the cure of his 
sister. The sick ecstatic received this letter in the depths of langour 
and declining weakness, and without even the hand of the newly 
inspired to help her, rose up, and declared herself healed. . . . Mary 
Campbell, who before this time had been confined to bed, from this 
moment, without any interval, returned to active life; . . . spoke, 
expounded, gave forth the utterances of her power in crowded as¬ 
semblies, and entered into the fall career of a prophetess and gifted 
person. The Macdonalds, less demonstrative, and more homely, 
went on upon their modest way, attracting crowds of observers, 
without being thereby withdrawn from the composed and sober 
course of their existence.” 

Another instance, and one which attracted much attention, was 
the case of Miss Fancourt, the daughter of a clergyman, a lady of 
studious and pious habits, who for eight years, (with very slight 
intermission,) had been a helpless cripple. “ She had for two years 
abandoned all remedial means, and betaken herself wholly to her 
couch, never leaving it, except sometimes on Sundays, when she 
was carried to church, and laid on her back in the pew. Her flesh 
had become quite emaciated, and every joint in her body more or less 
diseased; one collar-bone enlarged; her spine considerably curved, 
projecting to the left side; and the very morning of the day of her 
cure, she had attempted to stand, and could not.” 

We learn also that Mr. Greaves, “ Whose faith in the name of 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 


231 


Jesus was answered by tbe restoration to health of the cripple, has 
nothing of the fanatic in his conduct or expectations. His life has 
been for many years that of a consistent Christian, and he believed 
that God had sent him that day to receive an answer to his many 
prayers in behalf of Miss Fancourt. When the cure took place, it 
was instantaneous; every pain at once departed, and renewed health 
shot suddenly through the whole frame: she walked with perfect 
ease and firmness, and, as soon as she thought of making the trial, 
she found her flesh, which half an hour before had been without 
elasticity, to be firm and tense as the muscle of perfect health.”— 
Morning Watch, vol. iii., p. 155. 

From her narrative, in the Christian Observer (Nov. 1831) we learn 
that under medical direction she had successively been subjected to 
“ cupping and blistering,” “ Margate air and warm sea bathing,” 
“a caustic issue,” “crutches,” “leeches and blisters,” “tonics,” 
“ leeches again,” “ another large caustic issue,” “ two more caustic 
issues,” “ a seton on the hip,” “ a course of mercury,” “ leeches over 
and over again applied,” “ many times bled in the arid,” “ another 
issue placed in the hip,” “another seton,” and so on. No wonder 
that finding herself no better under this treatment, the poor lady 
had “ abandoned all remedial means and taken to her couch.” It 
was visibly reserved for the Great Physician alone to cure her. 

“On the very day,” she says, “on which Jesus so manifested his 
Almighty power, I had attempted to walk; scarcely could I put one 
foot before the other : the limbs trembled very much.” A kind 
friend had seen her about two months before and had been led by 
God to pray earnestly for her recovery. On the evening in question, 
Mr. G. had engaged her attention in general conversation, and rising 
he said:—“They will expect me at supper,” and put out his hand, 
(Miss F. says, I thought he was going to say “ good night,”) but 
“ after asking some questions respecting the disease, he added, It is 
melancholy to see a person so constantly confined: I answered, it 
is sent in mercy. Do you think so ?—do you think the same mercy 
could restore you ? God gave me faith, and I answered, Yes. (Be¬ 
tween these questions he was evidently engaged in prayer.) Then, 
he added, get up and walk and come down to your family. He then 
laid hold of my hand: he prayed to God to glorify the name of 
Jesus. I rose from my couch, quite strong. God took away all my 
pains, and we walked down stairs—dear Mr. G. praying most fer¬ 
vently, Lord have mercy upon us! Christ have mercy upon us! 


232 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 


Having been down, finding my handkerchief left on the couch, taking 
the candle, I fetched it. The next day I walked more than a quarter 
of a mile, and on Sunday, from the Episcopal Jews chapel, a distance 
of one mile and a quarter. Up to this time, God continues to 
strengthen me, and I am perfectly well. To Jesus be all the 
glory.” 

This letter, of which I have given only an abstract, is accompanied 
with one from her father, the Reverend T. Fancourt; in which he 
sa y S .—« Her back-bone which was curved before is now perfectly 
straight. It is material to add that her collar bones are ascertained 
to be now quite equal, whereas one of them was previously much 
enlarged. It is four years since she walked at all; and then it was 
but for a short time, with the assistance of a stick, and subject to a 
pain in her hip. She now walks stoutly and free from all pain.” 

The Christian Observer inserted these letters together with one 
from a clergyman, “ a common friend,” because they “ have been 
sent to us from^so respectable a quarter,” besides the case was one 
“ in our vicinity and pur own church.” It admits that “ the facts 
are unimpeachable;”—but then—a miracle in “the enlightened 
nineteenth century.” Ho, no! that is too absurd, we can’t admit 
that: “We acknowledge a most remarkable cure, but not, in our 
idea, one miraculous.” And why not? Here is the answer:—“We 
boldly lay down as the basis of the whole argument, that there is 
no sufficient proof of any miracle whatever having ever been wrought 
since the Apostolic Age:” and “ that God does now work them we 
see no shadow of reason to believe.” Boldly laid down certainly. 
There must of course be some great principle—some comprehensive 
and conclusive formula which can thus set aside, with the stroke of 
the pen “ sufficient proof” to satisfy seventeen centuries of Christian 
believers —Yes ! I thought so—here it is—“ There is no reason to 
suppose that there is any supernatural disturbance of the relations 
which God has been pleased to establish; and which we have no 
right to conclude have been set aside, because we are too ignorant 
to trace the sequence. Lit i s more likely that we are ignorant than 
that God has suspended his laws n consequently, “ we must admit 
any solution rather than a miracle.” I have the impression that 
this argument is no new one—that I have somewhere met with it 
before. Aye! even so. Here is something like it in a well known 
author of the last century:—“ A miracle is a violation of the laws of 
nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 


233 


these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the 
fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be 
imagined.”—“ The plain consequence is, that no testimony is suffi¬ 
cient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, 
that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it 
endeavours to establish. Even then”—David Hume however has 
no such scruples as the Christian Observer, and does not allow him¬ 
self to be betrayed into such inconsistent logic. He makes no such 
qualification in favour of the “ miracles of the Apostolic Age.” He 
“ boldly lays it down” and “ begs it may be remarked, that a miracle 
can never be proved, so as to be the foundation of a system of re¬ 
ligion.” But with all submission to the Christian Observer and 
David Hume, I “ boldly lay it down” “ that there is no sufficient 
proof’ of the premiss, which is the basis of their whole argument. 
There is no proof that a miracle does “ set aside,” or is “ any dis¬ 
turbance of the relations which God has been pleased to establish.” 
(j “ see no shadow of reason to believe” that it involves any “ sus¬ 
pension” or “ violation” of God’s laws but what is in perfect harmony 
with common experience; namely, the su spension of the law of a 
dower nature by^that of a higher one, as of chemical by vital, material 
by spiritual laws.! ( A^rmracfe is not the disturbance or subversion 
of law and order, but rather, their more perfect restoration: 'health, 
not disease is the natural law of life, and it does not follow that its 
sudden restoration by spiritual or divine interposition is a violation 
of the Divine order because we are ignorant of the means by which 
it is accomplished!) Prod’s laws are not circumscribed within the 
narrow limits of man’s imperfect knowledge.) “ From revelation I 
learn,” says Dr. Maitland, “ that it was for thousands of years, one 
law of God, that there should be a visible manifestation of super¬ 
natural power in his Church. ... I cannot, therefore, grant that 
a miracle is contrary to nature.”* 

I have made this digression because the conclusion and argument 
animadverted upon was adopted by all the press, religious (!) and 
secular, which noticed Miss Fancourt’s case, with the exception only 
of The Morning Watch, and The Jewish Expositor; and also, because 
this is equally the prevalent tone of the press in our own day. Pro¬ 
testant writers, who would gibbet the memory of Hume and Spinoza 
for reasoning against the probability of miracles in a distant land, 
eighteen centuries past; do not scruple, when occasion serves, to 

* Eruvin, or Miscellaneous Essays. 



234 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 


filch their arguments and proclaim them irrefutable in relation to 
similar miracles at home and among our neighbours. According to 
their dicta, miracles of a remote age, and at a convenient distance, 
are alone credible. Such writers profess to believe that God hears 
and answers prayer, but when in all earnestness and faith, a humble 
Christian devoutly prays to God that a helpless cripple may be made 
whole; and her restoration immediately follows, though all previous 
remedial means had failed;—then, they “ will admit any solution”, 
rather than believe that God has indeed answered the prayer of his 
servant, and that the cure has been effected by a direct act of super¬ 
natural power; which they even consider it “quite unauthorised 
and unscriptural to expect.” If there be any apparent severity in 
these strictures, it is because they are directed against a temper of 
mind and tone of feeling which I regard as most dangerous—cal¬ 
culated to sink all religious faith and earnestness down to zero. It 
has made Emerson say that the Protestant creed is, that God is 
dead. 


** I’d rather be 

A Pagan cradled in a creed outworn,” 

than believe that we were, without qualification, subject to the 
dominion of mere natural forces and “ cold material laws;”—that 
there were no deeper, more universal laws than pertain to chemistry 
and physiology, and in which the latter were included, and held 
subordinate. Even had I no experience to warrant me in this con¬ 
clusion, I should still think it “ more likely that we were ignorant,” 
and our definitions faulty, than that higher natures were not the 
subjects of higher laws, dominant over lower ones.* 

The reality of Miss Fancourt’s cure was on all hands admitted, but 
attempts were made to explain away anything of a supernatural 
character as attached to it. It was alleged that her disease must 
have been only functional, that it could not have been organic, and 
that her cure was the effect of “ nervous excitement,” and a “ power¬ 
ful exercise of the will.”—“ She threw such a degree of voluntary 
energy into the muscles, that every fibre was stretched to its utmost 
degree of tension, and she did walk.” In all this, a foregone conclu¬ 
sion is evident, and facts (as well as fibres) were stretched or 
shortened to fit the Procrustean bed of theory. Theologians and 
physicians who accepted the canons of conventional orthodoxy, were 

* In further elucidation of this question, see my Confessions of a Truth Seeker, pp. 162—173. 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 


235 


determined that there had been no miracle, that there could be no 
miracle, and that there should be no miracle. It was virtually 
assumed by them that miracles were impossible, and never had 
occurred; they declared “that the marks of such a change, (in 
organic structure,) were indelible” and that “those laws established 
at the creation are never departed from ” Their opinions, conjectures, 
and reasonings could not, however, set aside the facts, which were 
very obdurate, and would not be softened down to accommodate 
theological or medical theories. There was the evidence, “ thoroughly 
unimpeachable,” of the restored cripple, and her parents and friends: 
—there was “ her couch, made under the medical direction of Dr 
Pearson—a cripple’s couch, curved and padded to suit the diseased 
structure;” while Dr. Jarvis, her medical attendant, though dis¬ 
inclined to credit her cure as supernatural, gave his medical testimony 
that—“ Her disease was organic , not functional; a curvature of the 
spine was the immediate evidence.” The “nervous excitement,” 
alleged to be the great curative agent, was shown upon investigation 
to be conjecture, unwarranted by the facts.* 

I have only briefly referred to this case, because there are others 
of a like kind which in this connexion should not be passed over 
without notice. The editor of the Morning Watch, in reply to an 
Edinburgh Eeviewer, says:—“We can show him a lady, Mrs. 
Maxwell, who had been lame of one leg twenty-four years, and lame 
for eight years of the other leg, and who by prayer, in consequence 
of meditation upon Miss Eancourt’s case, suddenly arose, and 
walked down stairs, to the terror and astonishment of her husband.” 
“ The surgeons had told this lady, that the organic alteration was so 
great, that cure was impossible; and for some years had ceased to 
attend her.” This case “ is attested by two clergymen of the Church 
of England, of the highest respectability; one of whom holds a 
prebendal stall in a neighbouring Cathedral, and who writes of Mrs. 
Maxwell—‘ I have been here more than twenty-five years, and it was, 
I think, about a year after I came, that she began to be lame, and 
had gradually, I understand, been growing worse. I saw her about 
a year and a half ago, and then she could not move from one chair 
to another without crutches. She can now walk perfectly well, and 
her recovery certainly was, as you have stated, instantaneous * ” 

* See Morning Watch, Vol. iii., 151, et seq., and the Documents and Correspondence in the 
Christian Observer in the alleged Miraculous cure of Miss Funcourt. Dr. Maitland, in 
his Eruvin, maintained the miraculous or supernatural character of this cure, he declares:— 


236 


THE GIFT OF HEALING. 


Particulars are also given by the editor, of a lady miraculously 
cured of congenital mal-formation of the spine. Another case 
instanced by him, is that of a little girl between ten and eleven years 
of age, afflicted with diseased knee, with confirmed hip complaint, 
and incurvated spine. “The backbone, besides being incurvated, 
was bowed out; the knee of the diseased limb was turned inwards; 
and the heel had begun to contract—it was much wasted, and had 
always a dry burning heat upon the skin; added to which it was 
considerably larger than the other. She was carried from room to 
room by two persons, one keeping her legs in a horizontal position, 
whilst the other carried her body; and so completely powerless was 
the limb, that it appeared to be united only by the flesh, the joint 
having lost all firmness; she lifted it with her hands when she 
moved her body upon the couch, and that was always attended with 
considerable pain.” The cure in this, as in the other cases, had been 
preceded by earnest prayer. The little sufferer described her re¬ 
covery as accompanied by. a peculiar sensation in the limb, down to 
the toes, “ like life entering into the bones.” The surgeon who 
attended her, said :—“ He considered her case past medical aid, and 
her life not desirable under the circumstances. Something super¬ 
natural—almost a miracle—certainly human skill had not done it. He 
was greatly obliged in being informed of her recovery; he would note 
it down as a peculiar instance.” The Morning Watch also refers the 
Edinburgh Keviewer to the case of a Mrs. Gillow, “ who was to lose her 
breast for a cancer,” but was “ suddenly cured during prayer for the 
same, in the middle of the night preceding the day fixed for the opera¬ 
tion. This case occurred several years ago, and the subject has long 
been a pensioner on the funds of the Aged Pilgrim Society.” We are 
not so credulous as to believe that cancers, carious bones, and crooked 
spines, can be cured by the “ volition” and “ nervous excitement” of the 
sufferers. Many similar and well-attested cures are known to have been 
wrought in modern times, not only in isolated instances, but of great 
numbers, as by Gassner, in Switzerland; by Madame Saint Amour, 
and the Cure d’Ars, in Prance; and by Greatrakes, in Ireland * 

“ I have put the question to medical men, who had never heard of this patient, and of whose 
surgical knowledge I have a high opinion, and they have assured me that it is, as far as they 
know, contrary to all experience, and beyond all belief, that a curved spine and an elongated 
collar-bone should be rectified and reduced by excitement.” 

* As Greatrakes effected his cures by the laying on of hands, it has been plausibly argued that 
they were simply natural cures wrought by mesmerism. The same may be said, in fact, has been said, 
of many of the cures recorded in the New Testament; but, without here entering into the question 


THE GIFT OF ITEAUNG. 


237 


The Spiritualist publications of the last fifteen years record 
many cures, equally wonderful with the foregoing, effected by 
spiritual power, and under the direction of spiritual beings. The 
fact that similar cures are also effected amongst Boman Catholics, and 
devotees of other religious systems, which so staggered the Christian 
Observer, is, to me, no embarrassment, but a confirmation of their 
reality. I have cited the above instances not as evidence of the truth 
of a doctrine, but of the fact of a spiritual agency in sympathy with 
suffering humanity. God’s mercies and angelic ministries are 
not limited to a special church, or narrowed to the requirements of 
human systems. God looks not at the creed, but at the heart; and 
in every nation, and in every church—“He that feareth God and 
worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.*’ 

Nor is the healing by spiritual power the only point of correspon¬ 
dence in the spiritual manifestations of Mr. Irving’s time and of our 
own. In both periods we have spiritual utterances independent of 
the volition of the speaker, in the native, in foreign, and in unknown 
tongues; writing under spiritual influence and from spiritual dic¬ 
tation ; sudden inward illumination and impression; and discernment 
of thoughts, and answers to questions, both mental and oral. In the 
spiritual utterances then and now we find the same general character 
of virtue and piety, with occasional inconsistencies and discrepancies, 
and other indications of a “varying origin;” evidencing that the 
same differences in character and state which we find among men 
in the natural world prevail also in the spiritual world*) The intelli¬ 
gent and discerning reader, if so disposed, may easily pursue the 
parallel still further. 

whether mesmerism is a sufficient explanation, or what mesmerism is—whether wholly a natural 
operation, or a menstruum through which spiritual power may be conveyed;—how are we to account 
for the strong, overmastering impression on Greatrakes’ mind of the existence of this power, and 
which impelled him to its exercise ? Here is his account of it: —“ I had an impulse, or a strange 
persuasion in my own mind, of which 1 am not able to give any rational account to another, 
which did very frequently suggest to me that there was bestowed on me the gift of curing the 
king’s evil, which, for the extraordinariness of it, I thought fit to conceal for some time; but at 
kngth I communicated this to my wife, and told her that I did verily believe that God had given 
the blessing to me of curing the king’s evil; for whether 1 were in private or public, sleeping or 
waking, still I hud the same imputse. ,, He also relates how he was afterwards, in like manner, 
moved to try his hand with other diseases, and with equal success. But on this subject I cannot 
here enlarge. 

A similar case to Miss Fancourt’s is given in— A True Relation of the Wonderful Cure of 
Mary Maillard, (lame almost ever since she was born) on Sunday, the 26/A of November, 
1693; with the Affidavits and Certificates of the girl, and several other credible and worthy 
persons, who knew her both before and since her being cured. To which is added:—A Letter 
from Dr. Wellwood to the Right Honourable the Lady Mayoress upon that subject. 


238 


MANIFESTATIONS AT PORT GLASGOW. 


The “ Catholic and Apostolic Church,” which may be regarded as 
the legitimate outcome of Mr. Irving’s labours, differs, so far as I 
know, from all other Protestant Churches in adopting in its ritual 
prayers for the souls of the departed and for protection against 
possession by evil spirits. I am informed that its members—pro¬ 
fessed followers of Mr. Irving—while generally recognizing the 
spiritual character of the “ Manifestations” of the present day, so 
far as they are acquainted with them, yet join in the ecclesiastical 
hue and cry against them as Satanic. If it be so, I would urge upon 
them the duty and propriety of further inquiry and reconsideration 
in this matter. Is it well, I would ask, to pick up and throw at 
others the mud that has been flung at themselves ? If the charge 
was unfounded in regard to them, may it not be equally so when 
applied to others? One is sometimes tempted to ask—Are the 
lessons of the past of no more value than an old almanack? Must 
every generation repeat the blunders of its predecessors, and make 
the same rash judgments of others of which they complain in relation 
to themselves ? If the world is ever to grow wiser—if “ the good 
time coming” is ever to come, we must all exercise more of that 
charity which “ never faileth,” but “hopeth all things,” and “thinketh 
no evil.” 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

SPIRITUAL GIFTS:—MANIFESTATIONS AT PORT GLASGOW. 

I have, in previous chapters, alluded to certain Spiritual Mani¬ 
festations at Port Glasgow: their commencement and the circum¬ 
stances immediately preceding and connected therewith, is thus 
described by Mr. Irving, in the “ Narrative ” from which I have 
before quoted. 

“ In the west of Scotland, the thick and dark veil which men have 
cast over the truth had been taken away, chiefly by that man of 
God, John Campbell, late minister of Row, who was deposed by the 
last General Assembly for teaching that God loves every man, and 
that Christ died to redeem all mankind. His word leavened all that 
land, and took firm and fast hold of many to the salvation of their 



MANIFESTATIONS AT FORT GLASGOW. 


239 

souls. But lie had received no insight, nor held any discourse with 
the people on this subject: only he had prepared them for every- 
thing by teaching them the boundless love of God, and the full 
and free gift of Jesus with all the riches of glory which he 
contained. To another preacher of the Gospel* now also deposed by 
the same Assembly, for postponing the Confession of Faith to the 
Holy Scriptures, it was reserved to sow the seed which hath borne 
this precious fruit. He used often to signify to me his conviction 
that the spiritual gifts ought still to be exercised in the church; 
that we are at liberty, and indeed bound to pray for them, as being 
baptized into the assurance of the “gift of the Holy Ghost.” ... We 
were called to act thereon upon our several responsibility as 
persons; that the promise is to every believer personally, who, re¬ 
ceiving of the same, do by their several gifts constitute the body and 
membership of the Church. . . . But though there were not as yet 
any supernatural manifestations of the Holy Ghost in those parts, 
there appeared about this time, in the death-bed experience of certain 
holy persons, very wonderful instances of the power of God’s Spirit, 
both in the way of discernment and utterance, and also apparent 
glory. They were able to know the condition of God’s people at a dis¬ 
tance, and to pray for the very things which they needed; they were 
able to search the hearts of persons in their presence; .. . they were 
above measure strengthened to hold out both in prayer and exhorta¬ 
tion. In one instance, the countenance shone with a glorious bright¬ 
ness, as if it had been the face of an angel; they spoke much of a bright 
dawn about to arise in the Church ; and one of them, just before death, 
signified that he had received the knowledge of the thing about to 
be manifested, but he was too far gone to give it utterance. . . . 

“ Some time between the twenty-third of March 1830, and the end 
of that month, on the evening of the Lord’s day, the gift of speaking 
with tongues was restored to the Church. The handmaiden of the 
Lord, of whom he made choice on that night to manifest forth in her 
his glory, (Mary Campbell) had been long afflicted with a disease 
which the medical men pronounced to be a decline, and that 
it would soon bring her to her grave, whither her sister had been 
hurried by the same malady some months before. Yet, while all 
around were anticipating her dissolution, she was in the strength of 
faith, meditating missionary labours among the heathen; and this 
night she was to receive the preparation of the Spirit,—the prepara- 
* The Rev. A J. Scott, Principal of Owen’s College, Manchester. 


240 


MANIFESTATIONS AT PORT GLASGOW. 


tion of the body she received not till some days after. It was on 
the Lord’s day, and one of her sisters, along with a female friend, 
who had come to the house for that end, had been spending the 
whole day in humiliation, and fasting, and prayer before God, 
with a special respect to the restoration of the gifts. They had 
come up in the evening to the sick chamber of their sister, who 
was laid on a sofa, and, along with one or two others of the house¬ 
hold, they were engaged in prayer together. When, in the midst 
of their devotion, the Holy Ghost came with mighty power upon 
the sick woman as she lay in her weakness, and constrained her 
to speak at great length, and with superhuman strength, in an 
unknown tongue, to the astonishment of all who heard, and to her 
own great edification and enjoyment in God; ‘ for he that speaketh 
in a tongue edifieth himself.’ She has told me that this first sei¬ 
zure of the Spirit was the strongest she ever had; and that it 
was in some degree necessary it should have been so, otherwise she 
would not have dared to give way to it. For once * the spirit of the 
prophets, was (not) subject to the prophets.’ It was so also the first 
time silence was broke in my church. I have put the question 
directly, and been answered by the person who was raised for that 
purpose, that she never had so strong an impulse; which, thinking 
to restrain, she fled out of the church into the vestry, but found it 
quite irresistible, and was forced to give vent to that volume of ma¬ 
jestic sound which passed through two closed doors and filled the 
whole church. And so, according to the example of the Scriptures 
it ought to be; seeing that when it came upon the Church in the day 
of Pentecost, they did not, and could not refrain themselves, but all 
spake with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, though there 
was no audience to hear or profit by them. So also in the cases of 
Cornelius and his company (Acts, x.) and of the Ephesian brethren 
(Acts, xix.)” 

The Editor of the Morning Watch (Yol. ii. Part 2) writes :—“We 
have seen eight different individuals who have been eye-witnesses 
of these manifestations, and who are unanimous in their testimony 
to the supernatural, holy, and influential energy of what they there 
witnessed. We subjoin the testimony of one of these; merely 
adding, that the rest confirm it fully; and that, though we have 
seen writings of an opposite tendency, they are evidently the pro¬ 
ductions of persons under strong prejudice: some are mixed up 
with a bitterness which evinces anything rather than dispassionate 


MANIFESTATIONS AT PORT GLASGOW. 


241 


inquiry after truth: and we have not yet personally met with a 
single individual who, from his own observation, gave an unfavour¬ 
able testimony. 


“ * To the Editor of the Morning Watch. 

“ * Dear Sir, —Tou have requested me to state some particulars of 
what passed under the observation of my five fellow-travellers and 
myself during our recent stay at Port Glasgow. I do not hesitate 
to comply. . . . During our stay, four individuals received the gift 
of tongues ; of these, two, Mr. and Mrs. M’D, had repeatedly spoken in 
the spirit previously to their receiving the gift of tongues. The 
tongues spoken by all the several persons, in number, nine, 
who had received the gift are perfectly distinct in themselves 
and from each other. J. M’D., speaks two tongues, both 
easy discernible from each other. I easily perceived when he 
was speaking in the one, and when in the other tongue. J . M D. 
exercises his gift more frequently than any of the others; and I 
heard him speak for twenty minutes together, with all the energy 
of voice and action of an orator addressing an audience. The lan¬ 
guage which he then, and indeed generally, uttered, is very full and 
harmonious, containing many Greek and Latin radicals, and with 
inflections also much resembling those of the Greek language. I 
also frequently noticed that he employed the same radical with 
different inflections; but I do not remember to have noticed his 
employing two words together, both of which, a3 to root and inflec¬ 
tion, I could pronounce to belong to any language with which I am 
acquainted. G. M’D.’s tongue is harsher in its syllables but more 
grand in general expression. The only time I ever had a serious 
doubt whether the unknown sounds which I heard on these occa¬ 
sions were parts of a language, was when the M’D.’s servant spoke 
during the first evening. When she spoke on subsequent occasions 
it was invariably in one tongue, which was not only perfectly dis¬ 
tinct from the sounds she uttered at the first meeting, but was 
satisfactorily established, to my conviction, to be a language. 

««j conceive that though a real language may possibly, to one 
unacquainted with it, sound like a jargon, yet a mere jargon, unless 
put together with skill—in other words, unless actually formed into 
a language—will sound like a jargon, and nothing else, to any 
person who is at all acquainted with the formation of languages; or, 


242 


MANIFESTATIONS AT PORT GLASGOW. 


indeed, will consider that all the sounds of any given language are 
in the same key; and that a language is either inflected, or, where 
uninflected, its roots must, in order to fulfil the purposes of a 
language, be combined with each other in an infinite variety. Now 
the voices which we heard (except upon the occasion last alluded to,) 
were, in connection with each other, euphonious; many of them 
evidently inflected: and they conveyed the impression of being well 
formed and cadenced languages. 

“ ‘ One of the persons thus gifted we employed as our servant while 
at Port Glasgow. She is a remarkably quiet, steady, phlegmatic 
person, entirely devoid of forwardness, or of enthusiasm, and with 
very little to say for herself in the ordinary way. The language 
which she spoke was as distinct as the others (with the exception I 
have before mentioned,) it was quite evident that the language 
spoken at one time was identical with that spoken at another time. 

“ «The chaunting or singing was also very remarkable. J. M’D.’s 
ordinary voice is by no means good, and in singing particularly is 
harsh and unpleasing; but when thus singing in the Spirit, the 
tones and the voice are perfectly harmonious. On the morning after 

the day on which Mrs. -, (the lady to whom I have before 

referred,) received the gift of tongues, I heard her singing stanzas 
with the alternate lines rhyming. The tune was at first slow, but 
she became more and more rapid in her utterance, until at last, 
syllable followed syllable as rapidly as was possible, and yet each 
syllable distinctly enunciated. The rapidity of utterance was such, 
that a person would require considerable time to commit to memory 
stanzas in English, so as to repeat or sing them with equal rapidity. 

“‘These persons, while uttering the unknown sounds, as also 
while speaking in the Spirit in their own language, have every 
appearance of being under supernatural direction. The manner and 
voice are, (speaking generally,) different from what they are at other 
times, and on ordinary occasions. This difference does not consist 
merely in the peculiar solemnity and fervour of manner, (which they 
possess,) but their whole deportment gives an impression not to be 
conveyed in words, that their organs are made use of by supernatural 
power. In addition to the outward appearances, their own declara¬ 
tions, as the declarations of honest, pious, and sober individuals, 
may with propriety be taken in evidence. They declare that their 
organs of speech are made use of by the Spirit of God; and that they 
utter that which is given to them, and not the expressions of their 


MANIFESTATIONS AT POET GLASGOW. 


243 


own conceptions, or their own intention. But I had numerous op¬ 
portunities for observing a variety of facts fully confirmatory of this. 
Whatever might have been the apparent exertion employed, I re¬ 
peatedly observed that it had no exhaustive effect upon them; that 
neither loudness of voice nor vehemence of action discomposed or 
exhausted them. And we had a remarkable instance of this in 
M. M’D., who one morning, having in consequence of a severe cold, 
so entirely lost the use of her voice, as to be unable to speak out of 
a whisper, yet on a sudden commenced, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
continued speaking in a loud voice—sometimes in intercessory 
prayer in the Spirit, sometimes in denouncing the coming judg¬ 
ments, and occasionally speaking in an unknown tongue—and at the 
end of that time she relapsed into exactly her former state, neither 
better nor worse than she had been in the morning, but without the 
slightest exhaustion from her long continued efforts. 

“ ‘ In addition to what I have already stated, I have only to add my 
most decided testimony, that, so far as three weeks’ constant com¬ 
munication, and the information of those in the neighbourhood, can 
enable me to judge, (and I conceive that the opportunities I enjoyed 
enabled me to form a correct judgment,) the individuals thus gifted 
are persons living in close communion with God and in love towards 
Him, and towards all men ; abounding in faith, and joy, and peace; 
having an abhorrence of sin, and a thirst for holiness, with an 
abasement of self, and yet with a hope full of immortality, such as I 
never witnessed elsewhere, and which I find nowhere recorded but 
in the history of the early church; and just as they are fervent in 
spirit, so are they diligent in the performance of all the relative 
duties of life. They are totally devoid of anything like fanaticism or 
enthusiasm; but, on the contrary, are persons of great simplicity of 
character, and of sound common sense. They have no fanciful 
theology of their own; they make no pretensions to deep knowledge: 
they do not assume to be teachers; they are not deeply read; but 
they seek to be taught of God in the perusal of, and meditation on, 
his revealed Word, and to ‘live quiet and peaceable lives in all 
godliness and honesty.’ 

“ ‘ In giving you this statement, in answer to your request, I am 
only fulfilling the duty of an honest man; for, with my conviction on 
this matter, I cannot but testify, in all proper places and times, 
the things which I have heard and seen; and may God bless my 
testimony to all to whom it may please Him that I should be en- 

E 2 


244 


JOSEPH SMITH. 


abled to give it, that He may be glorified and his truth es¬ 
tablished. “ ‘ I remain, dear Sir, faithfully yours, 

“ ‘ John B. Caudale. 

“ Bedford Row, London, Nov 16th, 1830.” 

Additional testimonies, confirmatory of the statements in the fore, 
going letter, (written by an acute London lawyer,) and further 
particulars of the Spiritual manifestations at Port Glasgow, may be 
found in Horton’s Memoirs of George and James Macdonald. Those 
interested in the question of Spiritual Gifts as a permanent endow¬ 
ment of the Christian Church, are referred for further elucidation 
of the question, to Erskine’s Brazen Serpent, pp. 175—186 ; to Boys’s 
Proofs of the Miraculous Faith and Experience of the Church of Christ 
in all Ages; and to various papers in the Morning Watch. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

JOSEPH SMITH AND THE CHURCH OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 

That a new—a Latter-Day Church, with a new religion, or, at 
least, a new and very remarkable phase of Christianity, based on a 
new Bible, and claiming spiritual gifts of vision and revelation, of 
tongues and prophesy, of healing and exorcism, should arise in this 
material money-making age, among a proverbially hard-headed, 
shrewd-witted people of our own race, and speaking our own tongue; 
that, under every discouragement, it should grow and extend its 
organization to nearly every city and town in both continents, and 
in the United Kingdom; that, after undergoing persecutions and 
hardships almost incredible, its disciples, placing a thousand miles 
of wilderness, and a still more formidable barrier of ideas and social 
usages, between them and the “ Gentiles” should form themselves 
into a State with a population sufficiently numerous to claim admis¬ 
sion into the American Union, and that the Church, which in little 
more than a quarter of a century has accomplished this, should have 
been founded by a poor illiterate country lad without visible influence 
or resources, is indeed not the least of the wonders of the nineteenth 
century, and if well considered, it may teach us many lessons worth 
the learning; among other thingsfit illustrates how, despite the hos¬ 
tility of savans, and the infidelity offhe churches, a belief in the oper¬ 
ation of living spiritual agencies upon our world is latent in the heart 
of humanity, and when appealed to, seldom fails of eliciting a response^ 
I waive here all discussion as to the doctrines and practices of 



THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 


245 


the “ Saints I neither attack nor defend Mormonism, but simply 
direct attention to its claims to a spiritual origin and to continuous 
revelation, as presented in the life of its founder, and in its 
records and publications, and, as far as possible, in the language, 
or from the statements of the persons who profess to have been the 
subjects or witnesses of the alleged facts. 

Joseph Smith, “Prophet, Seer, and Revelator of the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,” was born in Yermont, U. S. 
in 1805. When ten years old, his parents with their family removed 
to the vicinity of New York; and in this neighbourhood Joseph 
resided for about eleven years, and, as he tells us, obtained “a 
scanty maintenance by his daily labour.” He appears to have had 
but little education. “ He could read without much difficulty, and 
write a very imperfect hand, and had a very limited understanding 
of the elementary rules of arithmetic. These were his highest and 
only attainments.” Soon after the Smiths’ removal to this place, 
a religious revival commenced among the Methodists, which “ soon 
became general among all the sects in that region of country, in¬ 
deed, the whole district seemed affected by it.” During this time of 
great excitement, Joseph tells us his mind “ was called up to serious 
reflection and great uneasiness;” he attended the several religious 
meetings of the sects, and became somewhat partial to the Me¬ 
thodists, and felt some desire to be united with them; but so great 
was the confusion and strife among the denominations, that “It 
was impossible,” he says, “ for a person, young as I was, and so 
unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclu¬ 
sion who was right and who was wrong. ... In the midst of this 
war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself, What 
is to be done ? Who of all these parties are right P or, Are they all 
wrong together P If any one of them be right, which is it, and how 
sh all I know it P 

“ While I was labouring under the extreme difficulties, caused by 
the contest of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading 
the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads:—‘ If 
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth unto all 
men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.’ Never 
did any passage of Scripture come with more power to the heart of 
man, than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with 
great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again 
and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I 


246 


JOSEPH SMITH. 


did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more 
wisdom than I then had, would never know; for the teachers of 
religion of the different sects understood the same passage so differ¬ 
ently, as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an 
appeal to the Bible. At length I came to the conclusion that I 
must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as 
James directs, that is, ask of God. X at length came to the deter¬ 
mination to ask of God, concluding that if he gave wisdom to them 
that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally and not upbraid, I 
might venture. So, in accordance with this my determination to 
ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on 
the morning of a beautiful clear day, early in the spring of 1820. It 
was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for 
amidst all my anxieties, I had never as yet made the attempt to 
pray vocally. 

“ After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed 
to go, having looked around me and finding myself alone, I kneeled 
down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had 
scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power 
which entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing influence 
over me, as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick 
darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if 
I were doomed to sudden destruction. But exerting all my powers 
to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which 
had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to 
sink into despair, and abandon myself to destruction, not to an 
imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the 
unseen world, who had such a marvellous power as I had never 
before felt in any being. Just at this moment of great alarm, I 
saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of 
the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no 
sooner appeared, than I found myself delivered from the enemy 
which held me bound. When the light rested upon me, I saw two 
personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, stand¬ 
ing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me, 
by name, and said (pointing to the other), ‘ This is my beloved 
Bon , Hear Him.’ ” 

This personage spoke to him on the subjects that were agitating 
his mind; cautioned him not to join any of the sects; and pro¬ 
mised him that at a future time the true doctrine, the fulness of the 


THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 


247 


Gospel, should be made known to him. The vision then withdrew, 
leaving his mind in a state of calmness and peace indescribable, 
Smith related this vision to one of the Methodist preachers, who 
treated it with contempt; and it being reported about, a great 
deal of prejudice and ill-feeling was excited against him. He 
says 

“ I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul when he made 
his defence before King Agrippa, and related the account of the 
vision he had when he * saw a light, and heard a voice, but still 
there were few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others 
said he was mad, and he was ridiculed and reviled; but all this 

did not destroy the reality of his vision.So it was with me; X 

had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two 
personages, and they did in reality speak unto me, or one of them 
did; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had 
seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, 
reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me, falsely, 
for so saying, I was led to say in my heart, ‘ why persecute for 
telling the truth ? I have actually seen a vision,’ and ‘ who am I, 
that I can withstand God?’ Or, ‘why does the world think to 
make me deny what I have actually seen?’ For I had seen a 
vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it; and I could not 
deny it, neither dare I do it; at least, I knew that by so doing, I 
would offend God, and come under condemnation.” 

He confesses that a little after this, being young, and mingling 
with all kinds of society, he fell into divers temptations, and the 
gratification of many appetites offensive in the sight of God. And 
he continues“ In consequence of these things, I often felt con¬ 
demned for my weakness and imperfections, when on the evening of 
the 21st of September, 1823, after I had retired to my bed for the 
night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God, 
for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifesta¬ 
tion to me that I might know of my state and standing before Him; 
for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as X 
previously had done. 

“While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered 
a light appearing in the room, which continued to increase, until 
the room was lighter than at noon-day; when immediately a per¬ 
sonage appeared at my bed-side, standing in the air, for his feet 
did not touch the floor. He had on a loose robe of most exquisite 



248 


JOSEPH SMITH. 


whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had 
ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made 
to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were 
naked, and his arms also, a little above the wrist; so, also, were 
his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His 
head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no 
clothing on but this robe, and it was open, so that I could see into 
his bosom. 

“ Hot only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person 
was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like 
lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright 
as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, 
I was afraid, but the fear soon left me. He called me by name, and 
said unto me, that he was a messenger sent from the presence of 
God to me, and that his name was Hephi. That God had a work 
for me to do, and that my name should be heard for good and evil 
among all nations, kindreds, and tongues: or that it should be both 
good and evil spoken of among all people. He said there was a book 
deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former 
inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they 
sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was 
contained in it, as delivered by the Saviour to the ancient inhabi¬ 
tants. Also, that there were two stones in silver bows ; and these 
stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim 
and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and 
use of these stones was what constituted Seers in ancient or former 
times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of trans¬ 
lating the book. 

“After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the pro¬ 
phecies of the Old Testament.He quoted many other passages 

of Scripture, and offered many explanations, which cannot be 
mentioned here. Again, he told me that when I got those plates 
of which he had spoken, (for the time that they should be obtained 
was not yet fulfilled,) I should not show them to any person; 
neither the breast-plate with the Urim and Thummim, only to those 
to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did, I should be 
destroyed. While he was conversing with me about the plates, 
the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where 
the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly, that I 
knew the place again when I visited it. 



THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 


249 


“ After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to 
gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking 
to me, and it continued to do so until the room was again left dark, 
except just around him, when instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit 
open right up into heaven, and he ascended till he entirely dis¬ 
appeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly 
light had made its appearance.” 

Before morning the vision was twice renewed:—“The very same 
things, without the least variation,” were again related to him, and 
he received further information “ concerning the great work of God 
about to be performed on the earth.” 

In the morning he went out to his work as usual, but soon the 
angel again appeared to him, and repeated his previous relations, 
and commanded him to go to his father and tell him of the visions 
and commandments he had received. He says—“I obeyed; I re¬ 
turned back to my father in the field, and related the whole matter 
to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and to go and do as 
commanded by the messenger. I left the field and went to the place 
where the messenger had told me the plates were deposited, and 
owing to the distinctness of the vision which I had had concerning 
it, I knew the place the instant that I arrived there. Convenient to 
the village of Manchester, Ontario county, Hew York, stands a hill 
of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighbour¬ 
hood. On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a 
stone of considerable size, lay the plates deposited in a stone box; 
this stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, 
and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was 
visible above the ground, but the edge all round was covered with 
earth. Having removed the earth and obtained a lever, which I got 
fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it 
up; I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim 
and Thummim, and the breast-plate as stated by the messenger. 
The box in which they lay, was formed by laying stones together in 
some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones 
crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the 
other things with them. I made an attempt to take them out, but 
was forbidden by the messenger, and was again informed that the 
time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it 
until four years from that time; but he told me that I should come 
to that place precisely in one year from that time, and that he would 


250 


JOSEPH SMITH. 


there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so, until the 
time should come for obtaining the plates. 

“Accordingly, as I had been commanded, I went at the end of 
each year, and at each time I found the same messenger there, and 
received instructions and intelligence from him at each of our in¬ 
terviews, respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how 
and in what manner His kingdom was to be conducted in the last 
days.” 

At length, on the 22nd of September, 1827, the angel delivered the 
records into his hands. “These records were engraved on plates 
which had the appearance of gold. Each plate was not far from 
seven by eight inches in width and length, being not quite as thick 
as common tin. They were filled on both sides with engravings in 
Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves 
of a book, and fastened at one end with three rings running through 
the whole. This volume was something near six inches in thickness, 
a part of which was sealed. The characters or letters upon the 
unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved. The whole book 
exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction, as well as 
much skill in the art of engraving.” With the records was found 
the curious instrument of which mention has been made, consisting 
of “ two transparent stones, clear as crystal, set in the two rims of a 
bow,” and alleged to be the ancient TJrim and Thummim, by the use 
of which seers in those days “ received revelations of things distant, 
or of things past and future.” 

He was again cautioned by the angel not to let the plates be taken 
away through any carelessness or neglect on his part—that he would 
be held responsible for them; but that if he would use all his en¬ 
deavours to preserve them till he (the angel) called for them, they 
should be protected. 

“I soon found out,” continues the seer, “the reason why I had 
received such strict charges to keep them safe, and why it was that 
the messenger had said, that when I had done what was required at 
my hand, he would call for them; for no sooner was it known that I 
had them, than the most strenuous exertions were used to get them 
from me; every stratagem that could be invented was resorted to 
for that purpose: the persecution became more bitter and severe 
than befpre, and multitudes were on the alert to get them from me 
if possible.” To escape these annoyances, he sought a new home in 
Pennsylvania. In packing up his goods for removal, he secreted the 


THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 


251 


plates in a barrel of beans, by which precaution he baffled the search 
made for them by his persecutors on the road, who would have taken 
them from him. 

He now, in his new home, commenced translating the records, 
through the means of the Urim and Thummim; and being a poor 
writer, he was under the necessity of employing a scribe to write the 
translation as it came from his mouth. Some of the original charac¬ 
ters were carefully transcribed, and, together with the translation, 
taken to the learned Professor Anthon, of Hew York, that he might 
examine them, by one of Smith’s earliest disciples, named Martin 
Harris. Mr. Harris gives the following account of what took 
place:— 

“I went to the City of Hew York, and presented the characters 
which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor 
Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Pro¬ 
fessor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than 
any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed 
him those which were not yet translated, and he said that they were 
Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic, and he said that they were 
the true characters. He gave me a certificate, certifying that they 
were true characters, and that the translation of such of them as had 
been translated was also correct. I took the certificate and put it 
into my pocket, and was just leaving the house, when Mr. Anthon 
called me back, and asked me how the young man found out that 
there were gold plates in the plane where he found them. I an¬ 
swered that an angel of God had revealed it unto him. 

“ He then said unto me, * let me see that certificate, I accordingly 
took it out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took it and tore 
it to pieces, saying that, ‘there was no such thing now as ministering 
of angels, and that if I would bring the plates to him, he would 
translate them.’ I informed him that part of the plates were sealed, 
and that I was forbidden to bring them. He replied, ‘ I cannot read 
a sealed book.’ I left him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who sanctioned 
what Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters and 
the translation.” 

As Professor Anthon’s version of what took place at this inter¬ 
view somewhat differs from the above, I present here his statement 
concerning it, as it appeared in a published letter from him, dated 
February 17,1834. He says “ Some years ago a plain, apparently 
simple-hearted, farmer called on me with a note from Dr. Mitchell, of 


252 


JOSEPH SMITH. 


our city, now dead, requesting me to decypher, if possible, a paper 
which the farmer would hand me. Upon examining the paper, I 
soon came to the conclusion that it was all a trick—perhaps a hoax.” 
But on hearing Harris’s “ odd story” about the plates, the Professor 
goes on to say, “ I changed my opinion about the paper, and instead 
of viewing it any longer as a hoax, I began to regard it as part of a 
scheme to cheat the farmer of his money; and I communicated my 
suspicions to him, warning him to beware of rogues. He requested 
an opinion from me in writing, which of course I declined to give, 
and he then took his leave, taking his paper with him. 

“This paper was, in fact, a singular scroll. It consisted of all 
kinds of crooked characters, disposed in columns, and had evidently 
been prepared by some person who had before him at the time a 
book containing various alphabets, Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses, 
and flourishes; Roman letters inverted or placed sideways, were 
arranged and placed in perpendicular columns; and the whole ended 
in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, 
decked with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the 
Mexican Calendar given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as 
not to betray the source whence it was derived. I am thus particular 
as to the contents of the paper, inasmuch as I have frequently con¬ 
versed with my friends on the subject since the Mormon excitement 
began, and well remember that the paper contained anything else 
but ‘ Egyptian hieroglyphics.’ ” 

Mr. Mayhew, in his work on The Mormons, admits that—“ In this it 
would now appear that Professor Anthon judged too hastily. Some 
American glyphs discovered by Professor Rafinesque, and of which 
facsimiles were given in his Asiatic Journal for 1832, (two years after 
the publication of the Book of Mormon,) agree very much with the 
description of the specimen as shown to him by the Mormon emis¬ 
sary. Thus, we are told by Professor Rafinesque, * that the glyphs 
of Otolum are written from top to bottom, like the Chinese, or from 
side to side, indifferently, like the Egyptian and the Demotic Lybian. 
Although the most common way of writing the groups is in rows, 
and each group separated, yet we find some formed, as it were, in 
oblong squares or tablets, like those of Egypt.’ The glyphs found 
by the professor in Mexico, were arranged in columns, being forty- 
six in number. These the learned professor denominates ‘the 
elements of the glyphs of Otolum,’ and he supposes that by the com¬ 
bination of these elements, words and sentences were formed, con- 


THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 


253 


stituting the written language of the ancient nations of that vast 
continent. By an inspection of the facsimile of these forty-six 
elementary glyphs, we find all the particulars which Professor 
Anthon ascribes to the characters which he says Martin Harris pre¬ 
sented to him. The ‘ Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of letters,’ in¬ 
verted and in different positions, ‘ with sundry delineations of half- 
moons,’ planets, suns, ‘and other natural objects,’ are found among 
these forty-six elements. This ‘ plain-looking countryman,’ according 
to Professor Anthon’s testimony, * got,’ says Mr. Orson Pratt, * some 
three or four years the start of Professor Rafinesque, and presented 
him with the genuine elementary glyphs years before the Atlantic 
Journal made them public. And, what is still more remarkable, 

* the characters,’ Professor Anthon says, ‘ were arranged in columns 
like the Chinese mode of writing,’ which exactly corresponds 
with what Professor Rafinesque testifies, as quoted above, in rela¬ 
tion to the glyphs of Otolum. We see nothing in Professor Anthon’s 
statement that proves the characters presented to him to be a ‘ hoax,’ 
as he terms it, unless, indeed, their exact resemblance to the glyphs 
of Otolum, and their being arranged in the right kind of columns, is 
a ‘ hoax.’ But as Joseph Smith was an unlearned young man, living in 
the country, where he had not access to the writings and discoveries 
of antiquarians, he would be entirely incapable of forging the true 
and genuine glyphs of ancient America; therefore we consider this 
testimony of Professor Anthon, coming as it does from an avowed 
enemy of the Booh of Mormon , to be a great collateral evidence in its 
favour. Professor Rafinesque says, that * the glyphs of Otolum are 
written from top to bottom, like the Chinese, or from side to side, 
indifferently, like the Egyptian.’ How the most of the Booh of 
Mormon was written from side to side, like the Egyptian. Indeed, 
it was written in the ancient Egyptian, reformed by the remnant of 
the tribe of Joseph.’ ” 

Other glyphs too, have since been found. From a letter in the 
Times and Seasons, signed by W. P. Harris, M.B., “a citizen of Kin- 
derhook,” we learn that in April, 1843, in excavating “ a large mound 
near this place,” after removing some rock which appeared as though 
it had been strongly burned, there was found, in presence of himself 
and a number of citizens, along with some charcoal, ashes, and human 
bones that appeared as though they had been burned, “ a bundle 
that consisted of Six Plates of brass of a bell shape, each having a 
hole near the small end, and a ring through them all, and clasped 


254 


JOSEPH SMITH. 


with two clasps. The ring and clasps appeared to be iron very much 
oxidated.” The plates having been properly cleaned, “ it appeared 
that they were completely covered with characters, that none, as 
yet, have been able to read.” A certificate to this effect, signed by 
nine citizens of Kinderhook, accompanied this letter. Mr. Mayhew, 
in his book presents an engraved copy of one of these glyphs. Other 
plates of gold and brass, with ancient characters inscribed upon them 
have been discovered in various parts of America. Some that were 
found in Ohio in 1847, contained characters beautifully engraven 
upon fine gold, which, by Dr. Wise, a learned Rabbi, and editor of 
a Hebrew paper in Cincinnatti, were pronounced to be ancient 
Egyptian. 

There are three hypotheses, or statements, concerning the origin 
of the Booh of Mormon. First— The Revelation of an angel. This 
is the origin assigned to it by Joseph Smith, and which is accepted 
by the Mormons. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day 
Saints,” says Smith, “ was founded upon direct revelation, as the 
true church of God lias ever been according to the Scriptures (Amos 
HI, 7, and Acts, I, 2).” Second— Fraud. Those who adopt this view, 
usually trace its origin to a religious manuscript-novel by a clergy¬ 
man named Spaulding, which professes to give a history of the 
ten lost tribes—the supposed progenitors of the Indians. It is 
alleged that Smith, or an accomplice, surreptitiously obtained pos¬ 
session of this manuscript, and interspersing with it some religious 
matter, published it as the Booh of Mormon. This is the popular 
version that we find in books and newspapers, and it is said to have 
been attested by some of Spaulding’s relatives and neighbours. 
Concerning this theory, Mr. F. T. Dexter, an opponent of Mormon- 
ism, in an article on “The Real Origin of the Book of Mormon,” in 
Nos. iv. and v. of The Apologist, whilst holding that Smith was the 
author, points out the insufficient and conflicting character of the 
evidence in support of the Spaulding theory—“We have not been 
able,” he says, “ to reduce the Spaulding story to a probable and 
consistent explanation of facts.” I would also refer the reader to 
an article in the Millennial Star, by Elder F. Harrison, (Yol. xix, 
No. 4), in which he challenges a comparison of the two books, and 
by an analysis of them, endeavours to show that the history in the 
Booh of Mormon “annihilates his (Spaulding’s) theory, explodes it 
entirely, and is at variance with it from first to last.” The third 
version, that of Dr. Brownson, assigns the Book of Mormon, and 


THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 


255 


Mormonism generally, mainly to diabolical agency. I present bis 
statement entire, as it is but little known, and is too curious to be 
omitted. The reader must take it with the rest for what it may 
appear worth, regard being paid to the fact that Dr. Brownson is 
How a zealous partisan of the Romish Church. He says:— 

“Joe Smith was an idle, shiftless lad, utterly incapable of con¬ 
ceiving, far less of executing the project of founding a new church. 
He was ignorant, illiterate, and weak, and of bad reputation. I 
knew his family, and even him also in his boyhood, before he be¬ 
came a prophet. He was one of those persons in whose hand the 
divining rod will operate, and he and others of his family spent 
much time in searching for watercourses, minerals, and hidden 
treasures. Every mesmerizer would at once have recognised him 
as an impressible subject. He also could throw himself, by artificial 
means—that of a peculiar kind of stone, which he called his Urim 
and Thummim—into the sleep-waking state, in which only would 
he or could he prophesy. In that state he seemed another man. 
Ordinarily his look was dull and heavy, almost stupid; his eye had 
an impressive glare, and he was rough and rather profane. But 
the moment he consulted his Urim and Thummim, and the spirit 
was upon him, his face brightened up, his eye shone and sparkled 
as living fire, and he seemed instinct with a life and energy not his 
Own. He was in those times, as one of his apostles assured me, 

* awful to behold.’ 

“ Much nonsense has been vented by the press about the origin 
of his Bible, or the Booh of Mormon. The most ridiculous, as well 
as the most current version of the affair is, that the book was ori¬ 
ginally written as a novel, by one Spaulding, a Presbyterian minister 
in Pennsylvania, and that Joe got hold of the manuscript and pub¬ 
lished it as a new Bible. This version is refuted by a simple perusal 
of the book itself, which is too much and too little to have had such 
an origin. In his normal state, Joe Smith could never have written 
the more striking passages of the Book of Mormon; and any man 
capable of doing it, could never have written anything so weak, silly, 
utterly unmeaning as the rest. No man ever dreamed of writing 
it as a novel, and whoever had produced it in his normal state, 
would have made it either better in its feebler parts or worse in its 
stronger passages. 

“ The origin of the book was explained to me by one of Joe’s own 
elders, on the authority of the person who, as Joe’s amanuensis, 


256 


JOSEPH SMITH. 


wrote it. From beginning to end it was dictated by Joe himself, 
not translated from plates, as was generally alleged, but apparently 
from a peculiar stone, which he subsequently called his Urim and 
Thummim, and used in his divination. He placed the stone in his 
hat, which stood upon a table, and then taking a seat, he concealed 
his face in his hat above it, and commenced dictating in a sleep¬ 
waking state, under the influence of the mysterious power that used 
or assisted him. I lived near the place where the book was pro¬ 
duced. I had subsequently ample means of investigating the whole 
case, and I availed myself of them to the fullest extent. For a con¬ 
siderable time the Mormon prophets and elders were in the habit 
of visiting my house. They hoped to make me a convert, and they 
spoke to me with the utmost frankness and unreserve. 

“ Numerous miracles, or what seemed to be miracles—such miracles 
as evil spirits have power to perform—and certain marvellous cures 
were alleged to be wrought by the prayers and laying on of the 
hands of the Mormon elders. Some of these were wrought on 
persons closely related and well known to me personally; and I 
have heard others confirmed by persons of well-known intelligence and 
veracity, whose testimony was as conclusive for me as would have 
been my own personal observation. That there was a super-human 
power employed in founding the Mormon Church, cannot easily be 
doubted by any scientific and philosophic mind that has investigated 
the subject; and just as little can a sober man doubt that the power 
employed was not Divine, and that Mormonism is literally the 
Synagogue of Satan.” 

Smith continued his work of translation until he had finished the 
unsealed part of the records, called the Book of Mormon, and pur¬ 
porting to be an abridgment, by an ancient prophet named Mormon, 
and his son, Moroni, of the sacred records of the people of ancient 
America, of which it professes to give the history to the year 1420 of 
the Christian era. This book, together with the Doctrine and Cove¬ 
nants, consisting of revelations subsequently given, developing the 
Ecclesiastical Polity of the Mormons, constitutes their modern Bible, 
_a kind of supplement, as they consider it, to the Old and New Tes¬ 
tament. The translation of the records given to Smith by the 
angel being thus completed, “ According to arrangement, the mes¬ 
senger, (i. e., the angel) called for them, when I (Smith) delivered 
them up to him, and he has them in charge until this day.” Three 
witnesses “declare with words of soberness,” that they saw the 


THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 


257 


plates and engravings thereon, which an angel of God brought to 
them, and laid before their eyes. There is also the separate testi¬ 
mony of eight other witnesses prefixed to the Book of Mormon, 
attesting that—“ Joseph Smith, jun., the translator of this work, has 
shown unto us the plates which hath been spoken of, which have the 
appearance of gold; and as many of the leaves as the said Smith 
has translated we did handle with our hands ; and we also saw the 
engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work 
and of curious workmanship. And we give our names unto the 
world, to witness unto the world that which we have seen; and we 
lie not, God bearing witness of it.” 

While engaged in the work of translation, Smith, and Cowdery, his 
scribe, one of the three witnesses, were one day in the woods, pray¬ 
ing, and inquiring of the Lord concerning baptism for the remission 
of sins, of which they had found mention in “ the records,” when a 
messenger from Heaven, purporting to be John the Baptist, appeared 
to them, and conferred upon them “ the Priesthood of Aaron, which 
holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of 
repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.” 
After they had baptized each other, they immediately received, and 
began to exercise the gift of prophecy; and the true meaning of the 
more mysterious passages of Scripture were revealed unto them “ in 
a manner,” they say, “ which we never could attain to previously 
nor ever before have thought of.” Subsequently, Smith was called 
to the Melchisedec priesthood, which holds the authority “ to ad¬ 
minister the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost ” 
Peter, James, and John appeared as ministering angels, and con¬ 
ferred the Apostleship upon Joseph Smith and others; after which 
they were authorised to confirm the Church by the laying on of 
hands. “Thus it will be seen that the authority of the Apostles of 
this Church of Christ was not derived through a succession of popes 
and bishops in the Apostate Church of Rome, but it was restored 
direct from Heaven by those who hold the keys thereof.” Having 
thus a special revelation and an authorised divinely-appointed priest¬ 
hood, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, consisting 
at first of six individuals was instituted on the 6th of April, 1830. 

I am not writing the history of Mormonism, and therefore cannot 
trace here its subsequent vicissitudes and developments—though it 
is one of the most wonderful chapters in the romance of history. 
But I would point out that these “ Latter Day Saints” lay claim to 


258 


JOSEPH SMITH. 


the possession of continuous revelation, miraculous powers, and 
Gifts of the Spirit; not feebly and faint-heartedly, but openly, ear¬ 
nestly, defiantly ! Irving had declared that “ the Christian Church 
ought to be all instinct with supernatural communications.” They 
affirm that their church is so, and the absence of these from other 
professedly Christian churches, they regard as one of the proofs of 
the universal apostasy. They endorse the saying of Wesley’s, that 
“ The real cause why the gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be 
found in the Christian Church, was, because the Christians were 
turned heathen again, and had only a dead form left.” Their 
organ, the Millennial Star, says, “Latter-Day Saints know that 
angels do now converse with men.* They know that the gifts of the 
Holy Ghost are manifested in these days by dreams, visions, revela¬ 
tions, tongues, prophecies, miracles, healings.” 

Orson Pratt, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church, says :— 
“We believe that wherever the people enjoy the religion of the Hew 
Testament, there they enjoy visions, revelations, the ministry of 
angels, &c.; and that wherever these blessings cease to be enjoyed, 
there they also cease to enjoy the religion of the Hew Testament.” 
He says again:—“ Hew revelation is the very life and soul of the 
religion of heaven; it is indispensably necessary for the calling of all 
officers in the Church; without it, the officers of the Church can 
never be instructed in the various duties of their callings. Where 
the spirit of revelation does not exist, the Church cannot be com¬ 
forted and taught in all wisdom and knowledge—cannot be properly 
reproved and chastened according to the mind of God-—cannot obtain 
promises for themselves, but are dependent upon the promises made 
through the ancients. Without new revelation, the people are like a 
blind man groping his way in total darkness, not knowing the 
dangers that beset his path. Without prophets and revelators, 
darkness hangs over the future—no city, people, or nation under¬ 
stand what awaits them. Without new revelation, no people know 
of the approaching earthquake—of the deadly plague, of the terrible 
war, of the withering famine, and of the fearful judgments of the 
Almighty, which hang over their devoted heads.f When the voices of 

* The Latter-Day Church agrees with the New Jerusalem Church, or followers of Swedenborg, 
in this, that all angels are the spirits of glorified men. 

t The following is from “A Revelation and Prophecy by the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, 
Joseph Smith. Given, December 25th, 1832Concerning the wars that will shortlv come to 
pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death 
and misery of many souls. The days will come that war will be poured upon all nations, beginning 


THE LATTER-DjCy SAINTS. 


259 


living prophets and apostles are no longer heard in the land, there 
is an end of perfecting and edifying the saints; there is a speedy end 
to the work of the ministry; there is an end to the obtaining of that 
knowledge so necessary to eternal life; there is an end to all that is 
great, and grand, and glorious, pertaining to the religion of heaven; 
there is an end to the very existence of the Church of Christ on the 
earth; there is an end to salvation in the celestial kingdom.” 

The same writer remarksThere are now, (1851,) about six hun¬ 
dred branches of the Church of Christ in the British Island, consist¬ 
ing of upwards of thirty thousand believers, and between three and 
four thousand elders and priests. Now there is scarcely a branch of 
the saints among this nation but have been blessed, more or less, 
with the miraculous signs and gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which 
they have been confirmed, and know, of a surety, that this is the 
Church of Christ. They know that the blind see, the lame walk, 
the deaf hear, the dumb speak, that lepers are cleansed, that bones 
are set, that the cholera is rebuked, and that the most virulent 
diseases give way, through faith in the name of Jesus Christ, and 
the power of his Gospel. These are not some isolated cases that 
occasionally take place, or that are rather doubtful in their nature, 
or that have transpired a long time ago, or in some distant country ; 
but they are taking place at the present period; every week furnish¬ 
ing scores of instances in all parts of this land; many of the sick out 
of the church have, through the laying on of the hands of the 
servants of God, been healed. It is not something done in a corner, 
but openly, and tens of thousands are witnesses.”* 

Parley P. Pratt, one of the apostles and martyrs of the Latter- 
Day Church, in an article in the Millennial Star on “Modern 
Spiritual Manifestations,” contends that they have been set up by 
Antichrist to counteract the said Church, as the magicians of 
Pharoah sought to counteract the miracles of Moses; and his judg¬ 
ment concerning those who accept them is, “ that God has sent them 
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might 

at that place; for behold, the Southern States shall he divided against the Northern States, and 
the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and 
they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves, and thus war shall be 
poured out upon all nations. And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up 
against their masters, and shall be marshalled and disciplined for war .”—The Pearl of Great 
Price. Published by T. D. Richards, 115 Wilton Street, Liverpool, 1851. 

* As I have not space here to give instances of Mormon miracles, I refer those who may care 
for them to a tractate, entitled The Book of Mormon confirmed by Miracles. 

s 2 


260 


THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 


be damned, who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in un¬ 
righteousness.” Spiritualists are pretty well used to this kind of 
imputation, and to this perversion of Scripture language; but, “ we 
know, brethren, how that in ignorance they did it.” It must be 
remembered, too, that the Mormons have suffered much persecution 
—which is apt to sour the temper even of Saints. I suppose that 
saints in these latter-days are not holier than the archangel Michael, 
and he durst not bring, even against the' devil, a railing accusation. 
I, in all humility, submit that a better understanding of Spiritualism 
would have given Parley P. Pratt a more tolerant and discriminating 
judgment concerning it. Perhaps the Mormons generally would be 
none the less Saints, if they were to exercise a little more charity to 
the “ Gentiles,” and draw their inspirations from the New, rather 
than from the Old Testament. 


CHAPTER XXIY. 

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 

Spiritual manifestations, we are sometimes told, may be credited 
by ignorant enthusiasts and visionaries, by idolatrous papists and 
fanatical sectaries; but sound orthodox Protestantism, we are as¬ 
sured, knows nothing of these idle fantasies and old wives’ fables. 
Well, let us see—is it so ? You, my orthodox brother, are a sound 
churchman; you regard our National Church as the bulwark of 
Protestantism; you subscribe to her creeds, collects, canons, and 
homilies, and respect the views of her eminent divines. Let us see 
then, what some of those authorised formularies of the Church teach 
on this matter, and what some of these distinguished divines, 
usually appealed to as authorities in the Church, have thought 
about it. I have no intention of conducting you through the whole 
body of Church-divinity in its relation to this theme, and should be 
ill fitted for such a task; but I may serve as a finger-post to point 
the road, and may report what I have myself found in that direction. 

That the Church of England (in c’ommon with, I think I may say, 
every Christian church,) teaches Spiritualism in its most sacred and 
highest sense—that of the action of the Spirit of God upon the 
individual human spirit and consciousness, will, I think, not be 



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gainsaid by any who are conversant with the Book of Common 
Prayer. Probably, however, few who make this admission consider 
what it implies, even according to the Church’s own teaching. Let 
me then direct attention to the fact, that the Church of England 
recognises, as a consequence of the operation of God’s Holy Spirit 
indwelling within us, the continuance and permanence of those 
spiritual gifts promised in connection with the gifts of the Spirit, 
and manifested so powerfully at its first ourpouring on the Christian 
Church. I cannot do better than quote on this point, the demonstra¬ 
tion by the Morning Watch, in reply to an attack of the Edinburgh 
Beview, on the spiritual manifestations in London at the time of Mr. 
Irving’s preaching. 

“The Church of England expressly teaches us to expect and pray 
for the gifts of the Spirit. The whole Liturgy is full of proof that 
such an expectation was continually present in the minds of those 
who set it forth. Almost every prayer expresses it: as that for the 
king—‘ endue him plenteously with heavenly gifts:’ that for the 
royal family—‘ endue them with Thy Holy Spirit; enrich them with 
thy heavenly grace:’ that for the people and clergy—‘ Almighty and 
everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels, send down upon 
our bishops and curates, and all congregations committed to their 
charge, the healthful spirit of thy grace.’ And that our forefathers 
made no distinction between the gifts we are instructed to pray for, 
and those bestowed on the apostles at Pentecost, is manifest from 
the Collect for Whitsunday :—‘ God, who as at this time didst teach 
the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of thy 
Holy Spirit, grant us, by the same Spirit, to have a right judgment 
in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;’ and in the 
Collect for St. Barnabas’s day:—‘ 0 Lord God Almighty, who didst 
endue thy holy apostle, Barnabas, with singular gifts of the Holy 
Ghost, leave us not, we beseech thee, destitute of thy manifold gifts, 
nor yet of grace to use them always to thy honour and glory.’ And, 
lest it should be supposed that the gifts thus expected and prayed 
for, were in any respect different from those bestowed upon the 
Church at the Day of Pentecost, we subjoin a passage from the 
Homily for Whitsunday:—‘ On the gifts of the Holy Ghost,’ one of 
these homilies sanctioned by the thirty-fifth article of the Church of 
England, and, as ‘godly and wholesome,’ enjoined to be ‘read in 
churches by the ministers, diligently and distinctly, that they may 
be understood of the people.’ 


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“ * Here is now that glass, wherein thou must behold thyself, and 
discern whether thou have the Holy Ghost within thee, or the spirit 
of the flesh. If thou see that thy works be virtuous and good, con¬ 
sonant to the prescript rule of God’s word, savouring and tasting 
not of the flesh but of the Spirit, then assure thyself that thou art 
endued with the Holy Ghost: otherwise, in thinking well of thyself, 
thou dost nothing else but deceive thyself. The Holy Ghost doth 
always declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts; namely, by 
the word of wisdom, by the word of knowledge, which is the under¬ 
standing of the Scriptures ; by faith: in doing of miracles, by healing 
them that are diseased; by jprophecy, which is the declaration of God’s 
mysteries; by discerning of spirits, diversities of tongues, and so forth, 
all of which gifts, as they proceed from one Spirit, and are severally 
given to man according to the measurable distribution of the Holy 
Ghost: even so do they bring men, and not without good cause, into 
a wonderful admiration of God’s divine power.’* 

“ And in the second part of the same Homily, it is said:—‘ Our 
Saviour, Christ, departing out of the world unto his Father, pro¬ 
mised his disciples to send down another Comforter, that should 
continue with them for ever, and direct them into all truth. Which 
thing to be faithfully and truly performed, the Scriptures do suffi¬ 
ciently bear witness. Neither must we think that this Comforter 
was either promised, or else given, only to the apostles, but also to 
the universal church of Clfrist, dispersed throughout the whole 
world. For, unless the Holy Ghost had been always present, govern¬ 
ing and preserving the church from the beginning, it could never 
have sustained so many and great brunts of affliction and persecu¬ 
tion, with so little damage and harm as it hath. And the words of 
Christ are most plain in this behalf, saying, that the Spirit of Truth 
should abide with them for ever; and that he would be with them 
always, (he meaneth by grace, virtue, and power,) even to the world’s 
end.’ 

“ And so, in the Third Part of the Homily for Rogation Week:— 

‘ I promised to you to declare, that all spiritual gifts and graces 
come specially from God. . . . God, the Father of all mercy wrought 
this high benefit unto us, not by his own person, but by a mean, by 

* The Morning Watch might also have quoted here the following passage from the next page 
to that above cited. “ Much more might here he spoken of the manifold gifts and graces of the 
Holy Ghost, most excellent and wonderful in our eyes; but to make a long discourse through all, 
the shortness of time will not serve.” 


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no less a mean than his only beloved Son. ... It is He by whom 
the Father of Heaven doth bless ns with all spiritual and heavenly 
gifts. ... To this, our Saviour and Mediator, hath God the Father 
given the power of heaven and earth, and the whole jurisdiction 
and authority to distribute the goods and gifts committed to him: 
for so writeth the Apostle (Eph. iv.) To every one of us is grace 
given, according to the measure of Christ’s giving. And thereupon, 
to execute his authority committed, after that he had brought sin 
and the devil into captivity, to be no more hurtful to his members, 
he ascended up to his Father again, and from thence sent liberal 
gifts to his well-beloved servants; and hath still the power to the 
world’s end, to distribute his Father’s gifts continually in his Church, 
to the establishment and comfort thereof.’ ” 

Again, I do not see how those who assert the doctrine of apostolic 
succession can consistently deny the succession of those spiritual 
powers and gifts by which the apostles evidenced their divine com¬ 
mission. The two are conjoined, and they who disclaim the one, 
forfeit, as it seems to me, all just pretensions to the other. Rogers, 
an eminent and learned divine, in his work on the Thirty-nine 
Articles, published 1681, plainly represents what are called miracu¬ 
lous gifts, as still forming part of the qualification for the ministry. 
He says:—“Lastly, we do read that God hath ordained to the 
Church some to be Apostles, some prophets, some teachers, some to 
be workers of miracles. (1 Cor. xii. 28).” And, that he speaks this 
of times present as well as times past, is evident from his telling 
us that—“ The church, as it hath been, so it shall, till the end of the 
world, be provided for. They who are thus called have power either 
to work miracles, as the Apostles had, or to preach and minister the 
sacraments where they will, as the apostles might: but they are 
tied every man to his charge, which they must faithfully attend 
upon; except urgent occasion do enforce the contrary. The call¬ 
ing of these men is termed a general calling: and it is the ordinary , 
and in these days, the lawful calling, allowed by the word of God.” 

The Rev. Thomas Boys remarks“ The Book of Common Prayer, 
in its unabridged form, contained a distinct recognition of miraculous 
gifts. I refer to the gift of healing, said to have been exercised by 
the kings of England. The reality of this gift thus exercised is a 
subject which I am not called upon here to discuss, though, if any 
..feel disposed to reject the idea at once, as absurd, they will only 
betray their own ignorance; for people are little aware how much 


264 


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has been written on this subject; and perhaps it would surprise 
them to be told that there yet exists a mass of evidence to the fact, 
which would be deemed amply sufficient to establish any other fact 
in English history. The point now to be mentioned is, that the service 
used on the occasion when people came to be healed, and the king 
performed the ordinance of touching, was formerly a part of our 
Prayer Booh; and I understand there are editions as late as 1721 or 
1723, in which it yet retains its place.” 

It remains to be added, that the Church recognized this as a 
spiritual gift in her distinctive Protestant character. That is, that 
while she expunged from her services the peculiarities of the 
Homish faith, such as the invocation of the virgin, this recognition 
of a miraculous gift was deliberately retained. Bishop Bull, (who 
died 1709-10) speaks of it as “The relique and remainder of the 
primitive gift of healing:” “The touch of the royal hand being 
assisted with the prayers of the priests of our church attending;” 
and of the fact of cure thereupon being supported, not only by “ the 
faith of all our ancient writers,” but by “ the consentient report of 
liund/reds of most credible persons in our own age attesting the same.” 

Another gift, that of the casting out of devils, is also recognized by 
the Church of England. The Seventy-second Canon directs, some¬ 
what quaintly, that no minister or ministers shall, without the licence 
of the bishop of the diocese, “ attempt upon any pretence whatsoever, 
either of possession or obsession, by fasting and prayer, to cast out 
any devil or devils, under pain of the imputation of imposture or 
cosenage, and deposition from the ministry.” Here the reality of 
“possession” and “obsession” by “devils” or evil spirits, and also 
of dispossession is admitted. The Canon requires only that the 
latter be not attempted without due authority from the diocesan, in 
order that irregularities may be suppressed. 

This brings us to another stage of the argument. Spiritualists 
recognize the operation amongst men of separate spiritual intelli- 
gencies, both good and evil. What says the Church of England to 
Spiritualism under both of these divisions F We have seen that it 
recognizes “possession” and “obsession” by wicked spirits; and, 
the following passage from the Homily “Against Peril of Idolatry,” 
seems to evidence still further a recognition of their agency. 
“Neither ought miracles to persuade us to do contrary to Cod’s 
word. Eor the Scriptures have for a warning hereof foreshewed, 


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that the kingdom of Antichrist shall be mighty in miracles and 
wonders, to the strong illusion of all the reprobate.” 

On the other hand, what means that clause in the Apostles’ Creed, 
recited by minister and congregation every Sunday—“ I believe in 
the communion of Saints .” Communion, according to Webster and 
Johnson, signifies “mutual intercourse, converse, fellowship.” 
This “mutual intercourse, converse, fellowship” with Saints, 
or glorified spirits of the departed, is just what Spiritualists 
affirm. Bishop Pearson, in his Exposition of the Greed , writes on 
this article of it, as follows:—“ The Saints of God, living in the 
Church of Christ, are in communion with all the Saints departed out 
of this life, and admitted to the presence of God. And in a marginal 
note to this, he remarks:—“ This is that part of the Communion of 
Saints, which those of the Ancients especially insisted upon, who 
first took notice of it in the Creed.” And, he thus sums up his ob¬ 
servations on it:— 

“To conclude, every one may learn from hence what he is to 
understand by this part of the Article, in which he professeth to be¬ 
lieve the Communion of Saints; for thereby he is conceived to express 
thus much; I am fully persuaded of this as of a necessary and in - 
fallible truth, that such persons as are truly sanctified in the Church 
of Christ, while they live among the crooked generations of men, 
and struggle with all the miseries of this world, have fellowship with 
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, as dwelling 
with them, and taking up their habitations with them: that they 
partake of the care and kindness of the blessed Angels, who take de¬ 
light in the administration for their benefit; that beside the eternal 
fellowship which they have in the Word and Sacraments with all 
the members of the Church, they have an intimate union and con¬ 
junction with all the Saints on earth, as the living members of 
Christ; nor is this union separated by the death of any, but as Christ, 
in whom we live, is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world, so have they* fellowship with all the Saints, which, from the 
death of Abel, have ever departed in the true faith and fear of God, and 
now enjoy the presence of the Father, and follow the Lamb whither- 
Boever he goeth. And thus, I believe the Communion of Saints.” 

Again, what language can be more explicit than that of the 
“ Collect for St. Michael and all Angels:— 0 Everlasting God, 
who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men 
in a wonderful order; Mercifully grant, that as thy holy Angels 


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always do thee service in heaven, so by Thy appointment they may 
succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen” However the Spiritual faith may have declined in the 
Anglican Church of our day; this Collect is a standing witness and 
protest against that declension, and an evidence of the larger faith 
and deeper insight of the Church of the Reformation. 

Whatever may be thought in other respects of the tendencies of 
the Tractarian party in the Church, it is gratifying to find that in 
this they cherish and seek to revive the genial faith of their Church 
in its earlier time. In their devotional poetry especially, (and here, 
if anywhere, the deepest faith and feelings of the soul find expres¬ 
sion), is this manifested. Perhaps, no work of this kind has been 
more acceptable to them, or more fully represents their best reli¬ 
gious thoughts and aspirations than Keble’s Christian Year: 
Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holyda/ys throughout the 
Year. Its object, as stated in the Introduction, is, to bring our 
“thoughts and feelings into more entire harmony with those re¬ 
commended and exemplified in the Prayer Book.” As indicating, 
therefore, the belief of at least a considerable, and influential section 
of the National Church, I freely quote it. My references are to the 
fifty-third edition, 1858. In the verses, page 343, we read— 

“ If thou hast lov’d in hours of gloom, 

To dream the dead are near, 

And people all the lonely room. 

With guardian spirits dear:— 

“ Dream on the soothing dream at will.*’ 

and at page 304— 

“They who nearest stand 
Alway to God in Heaven, and see his face. 

Go forth at his command; 

To wait around our path in weal or woe. 

As erst upon our Kin g,” 

In the verses on the “ Visitation and Communion of the Sick”_ 

“O soothe us, haunt us, night and day. 

Ye gentle Spirits far away, 

With whom we shared the cup of grace. 

We to the lonesome world again, 

Yet mindful of th* unearthly strain, 

Practis’d with you at Eden’s door. 

To be sung on where Angels soar. 

With blended voices evermore.’’ 


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Again, in those on “ St. Barnabas”— 

" O ! happy Spirits, marked by God and man, 

Their messages of love to bear; 

What though long since in Heaven your brows began 
The genial amaranth wreath to wear, 

“ And in th’ eternal leisure of calm love. 

Ye banquet there above; 

Yet in your sympathetic heart. 

We and our earthly griefs may ask and hope a part. 

“ Comfort’s true sons! amid the thoughts of down 
That strew your pillow of repose; 

Sure, ’tis one joy to muse, how ye unknown 
By sweet remembrance soothe our woes !” 

I am sure I need make no apology for introducing yet one more 
extract from this delightful volume: it is from the verses on the 
“ Third Sunday after Trinity— 

“ In vain: the averted cheek in loneliest dell 
Is conscious of a gaze it cannot bear, 

* The leaves that rustle near us seem to tell 
Our heart’s sad secret to the silent air! 

“ Nor is the dream untrue; for all around 
The heavens are watching with their thousand eyes. 

We cannot pass our guardian angel’s bound, 

Resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs. 

“ He in the mazes of the budding wood 
Is near, and mourns to see our thankless glance 

Dwell coldly where the fresh green earth is strew’d 
With the first flowers that lead the vernal dance, 

“ In wasteful bounty shower’d they smile unseen— 

Unseen by man—but what if purer sprights, 

By moonlight o’er their dewy bosoms lean 
To adore the Father of all gentle lights.” 

From the Lyra Apostolica, a volume similar in tone to The Christian 
Year , let it suffice to quote the concluding lines, in which the voice 
of a Spirit is represented as saying— 

“ I still am near, 

Watching the smiles I prized on earth, 

Your converse mild, your blameless mirth. 

“ Now’ too I hear. 

Of whispered sounds the tale complete. 

Low prayers and musings sweet.” 

In the hymns used at All Saints Church, Margaret Street, London, 


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(the model church of high churchmen) the reader will find verses 
like these:— 

*' From high angels Thee attending, 

Thou dost faithful guardians send j 
In mysterious ways descending. 

May they keep us to the end. 

** All who circling round adore Thee, 

All who bow before Thy throne. 

Burn with flaming zeal before Thee, 

Thy bequests to carry down: 

To and fro ’twixt earth and heaven, 

Speed they each on errand given.” 

It would, however, be a grave error to suppose that the belief in 
question attaches to any one section only of the National Church, or 
that it is held as a sentiment merely, not as a conviction. It has 
been put forth by Church divines of every shade of opinion: it has 
been enforced from the pulpit as well as in the poem, in works 
addressed to the reason as well as those which appeal chiefly to the 
imagination and the heart. Bishop Blomfield, in a sermon 
preached to the Young Men’s Christian Association, remarked that 
—" In the new dispensation, after Christ had come on earth, there 
was to be a general and universal outpouring of the Spirit. In all 
the prophetic writings are allusions to this general outpouring of the 
Spirit. In the outpouring of gifts, there are two classes of gifts, the 
extraordinary and the ordinary.... No doubt there are great changes 
yet to come.” And in a Sunday service at Westminster Abbey, 

according to the Times' report, he used the following language:_ 

“ The especial lesson taught by Jacob’s dream, was, that God con¬ 
stantly controlled our thoughts, and that we were constantly in con - 
nection with the world of spirits , whilst we thought we were far away 
amid earthly things. He entreated those whose thoughts turned 
heavenward, not to check them, for they might be certain that they 
were enlightened by the same glorious presence which cheered Jacob 
in the wilderness.” 

This “ especial lesson” requires to be particularly enforced at the 
present time, for, as remarked by the Rev. E. Bickebsteth:— “No 
part of divine truth can be neglected without spiritual loss; and it is 
too evident that the deep and mysterious doctrine of revelation 
respecting evil spirits and good angels, has been far too much dis¬ 
regarded in our age.” 

The Rev. Granville H. Foebes, in his reply to the Rev. Baden 



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Powell, remarks:—“ If to believe in the reality of the spiritual world, 
and our own intimate connection with it, is to be a ‘ Spiritualist,’ I, 
in common with all true members of the church of England, acknow¬ 
ledge myself a Spiritualist in the fullest sense of the term.” And 
while disclaiming “ the mode of communication peculiar to Spiritual¬ 
ism,” he admits the reality of the facts, and professes his own faith 
“in that communion and fellowship which pervades the mystical 
body of Christ, whether on earth or in heaven.” 

The Rev. F. D. Maurice, in a sermon on Hebrew xii., 1, 2, speak¬ 
ing of the ever present but invisible cloud of witnesses which 
surrounds us, observes:—“ There is nothing we are so familiar with 
in the books of rhetoricians, as invocations of departed worthies to 
look down upon their descendants, either that they may reprove 
them for some baseness, or encourage them to strength and victory. 
Considering how such language has been abused by those who have 
attached no meaning or scarcely any meaning to it, who have 
regarded it as little more than a figure of speech, it is wonderful 
how much power there still remains in it—how it stirs the blood of 
us who hear, even when we have not much faith in the sincerity of 
the speaker. He is often startled, like other enchanters, by the 
spirit he has raised; perhaps commends himself for the skill which 
could make a somewhat stale imposture successful. He does himself 
injustice. He has been truer than he gives himself the credit for 
being; the heart of man responds not to his artifice, which is paltry, 
but to the truth hidden within the artifice, which is mighty; Men’s 
consciences tell them that it is so; that they are habitually unmind¬ 
ful of the presence of unseen spectators; that when that thought of 
it is awakened in them they are not in a more false and unreasonable 
state of mind, but in a truer state, than their ordinary one. How it 
can be so they may not ask themselves; their instincts are better 
than their logic; they know that they are for the moment better and 
more serious men for the impression that has been made upon them, 
and they cannot refer a moral benefit to the belief in a lie. 

«Tim writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews has been recalling to 
his Hebrew brethren the acts of those ancestors with whose names 
they were most familiar. All those acts he had traced to their faith 
in an Invisible Lord, and to the substantial hope of which that faith 
was the ground. They subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, 
stopped the mouths of lions, out of weakness were made strong, only 
because He whom they could not see was more real and living to 


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them than any of the things which they did see. Then he speaks of 
those whom he had contemplated apart, as a body. They are a cloud 
of witnesses; they are watching the Israelites of that day, who are 
engaged in a race as serious, as full of hindrances, as full of hope, as 
their own. Each runner, when hardest pressed, when most out of 
heart, might be sure that he had those spectators, and that their 
sympathies, and all the mysterious aid which comes from sympathy, 
were with him at every moment. 

“ It is possible for a person trained in those rhetorical practices to 
which I have referred, and knowing that religious men of all schools 
and churches have resorted to them unscrupulously—it is possible 
for him to think that these words are an instance of them, and a 
warrant for them. It might not remove that opinion to point out 
the exceedingly practical character of the previous chapter; the 
impatience which the writer must have felt for fine speeches, when 
the heroes whom he reverenced were all doers of work; when it was 
to work, and the trust that is the soul of that work, that he was 
awakening the flagging spirits of the Christians in Palestine. With 
our artificial notions, we should dispose of all such arguments. We 
should say, that this being his object, he of course thought himself 
obliged to use all such passionate appeals as experience shows to be 
effectual, at least, for awhile, in stimulating torpid natures. The 
true answer is, that the argument of the epistle, where it is most 
strictly argumentative, had all been directed to the purpose of proving 
that Christ has rent asunder the veil which separates those who had left 
the world from those who are vn it; and that it was a formal, logical, 
inevitable conclusion from these premises, that this cloud of witnesses 
were actually with them, not brought to them by some violent effort of 
the fancy. He who believed those premises, had no doubt a duty to 
perform, after he had stated the grounds on which he believed them. 
Every power which God had given him was demanded, that he might 
break the fetters with which sense, and fancy, the creature of sense 
were binding the minds of his readers, and hindering them from 
looking straightly and steadily at the facts of their position. He had 
a right to any forms of speech, to any illustrations which nature or 
human life could supply him with; not that he might conjure them 
into some unnatural excitement, but that he might clear away the 
enervating delusions to which they were, from indolence and des¬ 
pondency, surrendering themselves. 

“ The writer of this epistle, then, is not sanctioning and imitating 


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271 


the insincerity of those orators who make it part of their trade to talk 
of heroes and saints looking down from their shining seats ; but he 
is explaining why honest men, in their best and truest moments, when 
they most needed to be braced for action, when death was loolcing them 
in the face, have felt the need, and confessed the power, of the conviction 
that they were not alone or unheeded, that the hosts on their side were 
greater than the hosts against them. It is horrible to think that they 
did what they ought to do, because they believed what they had no right 
to believe. It would be a comfort surely quite infinite, to know that they 
had a right to believe it then; that we have a right to believe the same 
always; that the dispositions in us, which withstcmd the belief, are the 
false ones.” 

And the same writer in his Christian Ethics, speaking of Memory, 
asks:—“ Is not every recollection of a departed friend, in some hour of 
sadness and temptation—confirming us in a right resolution, restrain¬ 
ing us when we would do something wrong—a message from the 
world of spirits ? I speak literally, not figuratively. Ifc is easy to talk 
of such recollections as only acts of memory. But what is an act of 
memory? The ancients thought Memory a most wonderful and 
mysterious power; they called it the Mother of all Arts. I cannot 
think they were wrong: certainly they did not exaggerate the seri¬ 
ousness and awfulness of that art which brings back to us words 
that have been spoken, deeds that have been done, our own states 
of mind, in years that are gone; which brings them back to us as 
present realities. The more we consider what is implied in such an 
exercise, the more we must tremble at the greatness of our own 
being; the more we must feel in what close relation we stand to 
eternity. And if, instead of saying, e I remember a friend, I call 
back his image to me,’ I say, ‘ He is actually conversing with me; 
he is suggesting thoughts to me; he is sympathising with me, and 
upholding me when I am weak,’ there is an increase of awe, perhaps 
of joy. But I do not feel that I have introduced a more difficult or 
incredible kind of speech. I am not sure that it is not a more 
simple one, more accordant with experience, even more like what 
men in all ages have felt must be true; more like what the analogies 
of science would lead one to expect.” 

The Eev. John Clowes, for sixty-two years Rector of St. John’s 
Church, Manchester, published a small treatise, the character of 
which is sufficiently indicated by its title. The Two Worlds. The 
visible and the invisible: Their nearness to, connection with, and 


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operation on each other. Elucidated from Reason and confirmed from 
Scripture * Among works on this subject by living divines of the 
Church of England, I may especially refer to two by the Reverend 
Thomas Boys. The Christian Dispensation Miraculous ; and— Proofs 
of the Miraculous Faith and Experience of the Church of Christ in all 
Ages; (the latter of these I have had frequent occasion to quote); 
and also to the Rev. Dr. Maitland's Superstition and Science ; and 
to some of the Essays in his volume entitled Eruvin. 

Travelling backwards, we find Archbishop Tillotson, in his 
sermon “Of the joy which is in heaven at the repentance of a 
sinner” (Luke xv. 7), concluding that:—“ The blessed spirits above 
have some knowledge of the affairs of men here below, because they 
are said to rejoice at the conversion of a sinner;” and he speaks of 
their ministry here below for the good of the elect, and their con¬ 
tinual intercourse between heaven and earth.” And in his sermon 
on “ The nature, office and employment of good angels” (Heb. i. 14), 
he remarks that:—“ God’s wisdom and goodness has thought fit to 

* That Mr. Clowes was himself what is now called a “ Medium,” is evident from the following 
letter, written in reply to one from Mr. Hindmarsh, who had heard it reported that Mr. Clowes 
had seen the Spirits, who dictated to him. It is taken from the Intellectual Repository for 
May, 1832. 

“ St. John’s, September 29th, 1799. 

“ Dear Sir, —The report which you have heard concerning my answer to the Abb£ Barruel, is 
not true, according to the manner in which you relate it, for there was no visible appearance of 
any angel or spirit on the occasion. There was, however, sensibly experienced an invisible dictate 
from some spirits or other, in the first place suggesting to write the answer, and this with such 
an over-ruling power, that though I had previously in my own mind discarded every thought of 
writing, pleading infirmity both of mind and body, I could now no longer withstand the influence, 
and every difficulty and excuse was removed. In the next place, there was observed during 
almost the whole time of writing a sensible dictate from Spirits at my first waking in a morning, 
attended with inexpressible delight, and exciting by their presence such a holy awe, that I was 
frequently constrained to rise in bed, and acknowledge with humble gratitude their kind offices. 
On these occasions, also, many thoughts were suggested for the work of the following day, and in 
this sense I had little to do but to act as an amanuensis, being sensibly convinced that what 1 
wrote was from others, and not from myself. This I have frequently experienced in the writing 
of sermons, many of which have been thus dictated throughout by spirits, when I have chanced 
to awake in the course of the night. Tins you may depend upon as a true statement of the 
subject of your inquiry. 

“ I remain with all respect, and best prayers for your welfare, 

“ Your ever affectionate, 

“ J. Clowes.” 

A clergyman of the Church of England, of considerable literary and scientific reputation, himself 
informed me that he was wholly indebted to Spirits for the sermons he preached, giving me 
particulars of this and other spiritual experiences: but which I should not feel warranted in 
publishing. 


THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 


273 


honour his creatures, especially this higher and more perfect rank 
of beings, with his commands, and to make them, according to 
their several degrees and capacities, the ordinary ministers of his 
affairs in the rule and government of this inferior world. . . . And 
that the angels of God are the great ministers of his 'providence here i/n 
the world , hath not only been the constant tradition of all ages , but is 
very frequently and plainly asserted in Scripture. ... So that ac¬ 
cording to the persuasion of these two excellent persons, and of 
greatest renown for piety in all the Old Testament (Abraham and 
David), very much of the safety and the success of good men, even 
in their temporal concernments, is to be ascribed to the vigilant 
care and protection of good angels. And though this be seldom 
visible and sensible to us, yet we have great reason, upon so great 
testimonies, to assent to the truth of it. And there is no reason, I 
think, to doubt but that God’s care extends now to Christians, as 
well as it did to the Jews; and that the angels have as much 
kindness for us as they had for the Jews; and there is no reason 
to think that the angels are now either dead or idle.). . . Vjgyil 
spirits are believed by Christians to be as active now, to all purposes 
of harm and mischief, as ever; and why should any man imagine 
that good spirits are not as intent and busy to do g ood ?J The apostle 
(I am sure) tells us in the text, that the angels in common (all 
of them) do employ their service about us, and wait to do good 
offices to us : Are they not all (says he) ministering spirits, sent forth 
to mmister for them that shall be heirs of salvation f” 

Bishop Hall, in his treatise on The Invisible World, speaks 
of the relations in which men stand to both good and evil angels and 
spirits. In the section entitled:— Of the Apparitions and assumed 
shapes of Evil Spirits, he writes :—“ I doubt not but there were many 
frauds intermixed both in the acting, and relating divers of these 
occurrences; but he that shall detract from the truth of all, may as 
well deny there were men living in those ages before us.” And in 
speaking of various physical manifestations which they have power 
to effect, he remarks that:—“ By applying active powers to passive 
subjects, they can produce wonderful effects,” as “ were easy to be 
instanced in whole volumes, if it were needed, out of history and 
experience.” Speaking of good angels, he remarks:—“This we 
know, that so sure as we see men, so sure we are that holy men have 
seen angels.” That he was himself conscious of their presence, and 
sensible of their services, seems apparent from the following passages: 

T 


274 


THE CHURCH OP ENGLAND. 


—“ 0 ye blessed spirits ye are ever by me, ever with me, ever about 
me; I do as good as see you, for I know you to be here; I reverence 
your glorious persons, I bless God for you; I walk carefully because 
I am ever in your eyes, I walk confidently because I am ever in 
your hands.” “ 0 ye invisible guardians, it is not sense that shall 
make the difference, it shall be my desire to be no less careful of 
displeasing you, that if I saw you present by me clothed in flesh. 
^Neither shall I rest less assured of your gracious presence and 
tuition, and the expectation of all spiritual offices from you, which 
may tend towards my blessedness than I am now sensible of the 
animation of my own soul.” Finally, in treating of The Employment 
and Operations of Any els, he thus speaks of some of the benefits we 
derive from their ministrations :—“ Have we been raised up from 
deadly sicknesses, when all natural helps have given us up P God’s 
angels have been our secret physicians. Have we had instinctive 
intimations of the death of some absent friends, which no human 
intelligence hath bidden us to suspect, who but our angels hath 
wrought it P Have we been preserved from mortal dangers, which 
we could not tell how by our providence to have evaded, our invisi¬ 
ble guardians have done it.” 

The learned and judicious Hooker observes that—“Angels are 
spirits, immaterial and intellectual. In number and order they are 
large, mighty, and royal armies, desiring good unto all the creatures 
of God, but especially unto the children of men; in the countenance 
of whose nature, looking downward, they behold themselves beneath 
themselves; besides which, the angels have with us that communion 
which the Apostle to the Hebrews noteth, and in regard whereof 
they disdain not to profess themselv'es our fellow-servants. And 
from hence there springeth up another law, which bindeth them to 
works of ministerial employment.” 

Bishop Heber, as appears from a passage in his Indian Journal, 
inclined to the belief that the spirits of the just were sometimes 
permitted to hover over those they love; it is also evident in his 
lines, intended as a child’s Evening Prayer— 

“ God that madest earth and heaven, 

Darkness and light! 

Who the day for toil hast given, 

For rest the night! 

May thine angel-guards defend us. 

Slumber sweet thy mercy send us. 

Holy dreams and hopes attend us, 

This livelong night!” 


THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 


275 


He lias also expressed his conviction that there are recorded 
instances of spiritual apparitions in modern times, “ which it would 
be exceedingly difficult to disprove.” Bishop Beveridge thought— 
“ that those who are truly pious, have every one his angel always 
with him, is very probable.” Ho doubt, too, the reader has often 
admired these simple lines of Bishop Ken :— 

“ 0 may thy angels while I sleep, 

Around my bed their vigils keep; 

Their love angelical instil; 

Stop every avenue of ill: 

May they celestial joys rehearse, 

And thought to thought with me converse.” 

Whether, then, we refer to the Church’s confession of faith; to 
her standards of doctrine, devotion, and discipline; to the devotional 
poetry which finds favour with, and may be presumed to represent, 
to a great extent at least, the faith and feelings of her worshippers; 
or, to the views of some of her most distinguished theologians and 
representative men, we are brought to the same conclusion, that 
Spiritualism (however it may be ignored or put out of sight by those 
of her communion who cannot make it square with the philosophy 
in vogue, and who worship at that shrine), is an important consti¬ 
tuent element of the Church’s belief; not something externally at¬ 
tached to it, but an integral part of it. 

In urging this view I am not anxious to shelter Spiritualism under 
the robe of orthodoxy; my wish is rather to remind churchmen of 
some of the principles they profess, and of the duty of being true to 
those professions, and accepting them with all their consequences. 

<^I regard Spiritualism as something belonging to all churches, inde¬ 
pendent of all churches, and anterior to all churchesa golden 
thread interwoven with the texture of every religious creed: an 
instinctive belief of humanity, and one warranted by revelation, 
tradition, universal experience, and the highest reason.^Hothing 
can be more unfair, and no mistake in the consideration of Spirit¬ 
ualism can be more fatal, than the common practice of confounding 
its principles with its accidents, or with particular modes of its 
manifestation; for, if its principles are true, its present modes of 
manifestation might all disappear to-morrow, and new modes of 
manifestation and new phases of the subject be presented/ Spirit¬ 
ualism is not that idiotic abortion with which some popular igno¬ 
rantly-learned men would cheat the public mind. It is the Science 


276 


CHURCHES IN AMERICA. 


of Man's relation to the whole Spiritual Universe.. It is not tlie 
insignificance but the magnitude of the question which prevents 
our theologians and minute philosophers from taking hold of it. 
They cannot trace its coast-lines: their eyes are blinded with the 
mere spray that from the oceans of the Spirit-world beats upon our 
shores. Man is a microcosm. There is in his nature that which 
corresponds and enables him to stand in relation to whatever is 
highest or lowest in the realms of spirit. He may sink himself into 
a companionship with the most degraded spirits of Infernus; or, he 
may rise to communion with spirits of just men made perfect; with 
angels who stand before the face of the Eternal Father; nay, have 
we not authority to declare that he may become the very temple of 
the Holy Ghost« ; 


CHAPTER XXV. 

THE CHURCHES IN AMERICA. 

When we speak of Spiritualism in America, the thought naturally 
reverts to the extraordinary series of phenomena, which commencing 
in Rochester in 1848, have pursued their successive and broadening 
developments, until they now extend not only over its vast continent, 
but bid fair to girdle the whole earth. It is well, however, to re¬ 
member that the present movement is but an eddy in the current of 
that broad stream which sweeps through the ages. The principle 
that Spirits in various ways manifest the interest they feel in the 
concerns of men, has been recognised as a truth, in America, as 
elsewhere, long before the phenomena adverted to; and though a 
great declension in this faith, as compared with former times, is 
manifest—it still was, and is, on totally independent grounds, held 
by multitudes of men, including many leading minds in all churches, 
as alike taught by revelation, and in accordance with a true 
philosophy. 

For illustration of this, we need not go to Cotton Mather and the 
Pilgrim Fathers, as of their belief on this matter, no question can 
be raised; but it may be useful to refer to the teachings of more 
modern American divines; of such distinguished and influential 
teachers of different churches, as are usually, and may very fairly, 



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be regarded as, to some extent, representing the religions bodies to 
which they respectively belong. Not alone is Spiritualism impreg¬ 
nable in its citadel of facts, but even its outworks are strongly 
fortified; many are its champions and defenders, who have no 
alliance with it as a specialty. 

Many potent rulers in the realm of mind, who, technically, may 
not be designated Spiritualists, enforce the truth of its principles 
with a vigour and eloquence surpassing that of its professed advo¬ 
cates. It may not be uninteresting to English Spiritualists, to see 
the manner in which their principles are sometimes discussed by 
eminent theologians on the other side of the Atlantic. I therefore 
present them a few extracts, which may in some measure illustrate 
this point. 

The Rev. Dr. Nott, the venerable President of Union College, “a 
clergyman, equally distinguished in the ancient classics and in 
modern literature, and profoundly versed in the theology of the 
Bible,” in an address to the Alumni of the college, on the fiftieth 
anniversary of his presidency, spoke as follews:—“ In the next semi¬ 
centennial anniversary, you, or some of you, may be present, with 
tremulous voices, tottering steps, as the speaker that now addresses 
you, regarded with interest—with melancholy interest—as ruins 
always are. With some it may be so, but the rest of you, where will 

you be ? Where the dead are, and so forgotten. But, though 

the dead be forgotten by the livi/ng, the living will not be forgotten by the 
dead. The dead may be present, seeing though unseen, sent back to 
earth on some errand of mercy; or, perhaps, the guardian angels of 
living ones left behind .” 

President Dwight gives full credence to the agency of Spirits. He 
says:—“ That angels (or spirits) should communicate thoughts, 
either good or evil, to mankind, is originally no more improbable 
than that we should communicate them to each other. We do this 
daily and hourly in many ways, which are familiar to us by expe¬ 
rience, but which were originally unimaginable by ourselves, and 
probably by any other finite being. We show our thoughts to each 
other by words, tones, gestures, silence, hieroglyphics, pictures, 
letters, and many other things. All these, antecedent to our expe¬ 
rience of them, were hidden in absolute darkness from our concep¬ 
tion. If all mankind had been born dumb, no man would have 
entertained a single thought concerning the communication of ideas 
by speech. The conveyance of thoughts by books also, if never 



278 


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experienced by us, would necessarily have been deemed mysterious 
and impossible; yet very many thoughts are thus conveyed by every 
person living, and with very great force, and frequently with very 
great precision. Nay, the countenance often discloses the whole 
character at once.” 

Professor Moses Stuart defends the doctrine of the ministry of 
angels, among other reasons, as casting “ light upon God’s provi¬ 
dential government of the world.” Dr. Albert Barnes, perhaps the 
most popular Biblical commentator of the present day, in his Notes 
on Heb. i, remarks that:—“ In this doctrine there is nothing absurd. 
It is no more improbable that angels should be employed to aid man, 
than that one man should aid another; certainly not as improbable 
as that the Son of God should come down ‘ not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister.’ .... What they do now, may be learned from 
the Scripture account of what they have done; as it seems to be a 
fair principle of interpretation that they are engaged in substantially 

the same employment in which they have ever been.They 

attend the redeemed; they wait on their steps; they sustain them 
in trial; they accompany them when departing to Heaven.” 

Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania, adverts to “those legions of 
spirits that are flying as God’s messengers of mercy to his heirs of 
salvation; or, as the devil’s emissaries, in the work of death to souls.” 
And Dr. Bushnell, in his work on Nature and the Supernatural, has 
a chapter on Spiritual Gifts; in which he maintains that the extra¬ 
ordinary endowments of the apostolic age are still, to some extent, 
existing among Christians, which he illustrates by very interesting 
examples. 

The Rev. Mr. Jackson, of Westchester, N.Y., at the Diocesan 
Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, delivered a sermon 
on the day of the Festival of St. Michael and all Angels, September 
29, 1858, to a numerous auditory of the clergy of that denomination, 
including their bishop ; a phonographic report of which, with some 
abridgments, was published in the Churchman, New York. His 
text was Heb. xii., 22, 23, 24. As a sermon preached under such 
auspices, and, as I learn, received with favour by its auditors, has a 
more than ordinary significance, I transcribe its leading points. 

“ The argument was that, though unseen, these spiritual powers 
are never absent; and instead of an occasional glimpse of God, and 
visits few and far between of angels, there is a gift of a perpetual 
presence, and an innumerable company of that celestial host; and 




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279 


instead of being dissevered and divorced from that heroic ancestry 
of patriarchs, prophets, priests, and martyrs, they had come into 
communion with all the spirits of the just made perfect, and we, not 
less than those first Christians, needed occasionally to be encouraged 
by a survey of the nature and magnitude of that body unto which 
we belong, and unto which we come in our communion of the saints; 
and it was to this meditation that the services of this day invited us, 
in the appointed order for St. Michael and all Angels.” 

The reverend preacher here introduced some extended observa¬ 
tions respecting the wisdom of the Church in providing, by special 
services, for the preservation and keeping alive of the truth touching 
these relations, which mankind are so liable to corrupt or let 
slip. 

“In the popular religionism of the day, as among the ancient 
Sadducees, there was neither angel nor spirit; and yet, so universal 
and deep was the instinct of connection with orders above, as really 
as with orders below us, that if it be not caught up and nourished 
with the truth, it will turn voraciously to delusion and a lie, and 
break forth in the eruptive forms of fanaticism and puerile conceit, 
giving heed, as saith the apostle, to seducing spirits, and doctrines of 
devils. The Church had wisely provided for this insatiable craving, 
by gathering up the sure teaching of Scripture, and weaving it as a 
silver thread into all the texture of her teaching; so that, following 
it, we never go astray nor miss the sweet connection between that world 
unseen and this. Thus every time we chanted our Te Deum Lauda - 
mus, we brought the Church above and the Church below into sym¬ 
pathy and song—apostles, prophets, angels and martyrs, cherubim 
and seraphim, making with us one body, one praise ; and as oft as we 
knelt to our solemn communion, we acknowledged that it was with 
angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, we laud and 
magnify his glorious name; and then, in addition to all this daily 
recognition, we had a special service set apart for the commemoration 
of departed saints, and another, as to-day, for the commemoration of 
angels. Let us, then, put the shoes from off our feet, and ascend, 
fora season, into this sacred mountain and city of our God; and 
though, like James and John, we may not here abide, but must 
descend again to the thick air and sore travail of earth, yet, like 
Moses, we shall come down with a shining face and a lighter hearty 
for we shall have seen that great and glorious body of which we are 
the feeble and scattered members, and shall go to our place and our 


280 


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duty, however humble, knowing that we share in the glory and ma¬ 
jesty of more than eye hath seen, or ear hath heard.” 

After considering the several orders named in the text, as consti¬ 
tuting our communion in the Church, the unity of these orders, and 
their respective services, he remarked that Jesus was the central life 
of all—cementing all the several orders into one indivisible body, of 
which He is the head and life; and proceeded:— 

“Angels, therefore, the perfected spirits of the departed, and those 
whose names are written in heaven, though now toiling and suffering 
m tbe dust of earth, constituted that one blessed company of all 
faithful people which is the mystical body of Christ; and these seve¬ 
ral orders existed as a unit in Him. Because they exist in different 
orders, we were apt to think and speak of them as different bodies; 
but they were in fact no otherwise different than as different organs 
they have different and several functions. And this union was not a 
metaphysical one, denoting mere unity of purpose; not a mere 
moral one of affection and sympathy only, but a vital and organic one, 
as the branches are one with the vine. 

Of the spirits of the just, we might be sure that they have lost 
nothing of their interest in the kingdom of Christ, nor of their abi¬ 
lity to serve it now that they are perfect. They were not, as some 
would have us believe, entered into that bright world, deaf, dumb, and 

blind to all that is passing here, and taking the rest of a stone in¬ 
stead of the refreshment of saints. Ho; in passing from us they 
had only passed from darkness to light, from weakness to strength, 
from dishonour to glory, from the mortal to the immortal. They 
were the same identical beings, both in form and in essence, in 
memory and affection, as when travailing in the pains of our humilia¬ 
tion here. They had not changed into new creatures, but merely 
developed their former selves, until—according to the saying of 
Jesus, they are like unto angels. And so when the Church Militant 
buried her dead in Christ, she buried them not with lamentation, but 
with the chant of victory, marching with them into the very domain 
of the king of terrors, and taunting him there with his own defeat, 
saying, at the mouth of the open sepulchre, «0 death, where is thy 
sting ? O grave, where is thy victory p’ and in early times, as we 
are told, their names were read out aloud at each administration of 
the sacrament, as being still of the blessed company of the faithful, 
and only immortal by victory over death and the grave. The living 
never regarded the dead as lost, but only advanced from the army 


CHURCHES IN AMERICA. 


281 


militant to the host triumphant, regarding them as the blessed and 
favoured ones already called from the conflict to the crown—from the 
heat and burden of the day to the cool shades and sweet repose of 
the paradise above. Therefore did we still launch them forth with 
the shout of triumph, saying, as they pass from our sight, ‘ Blessed, 
blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.’ 

“ What precisely might be their mission or service there or here, 
was not revealed; but as memory and affection never die, we know 
that they have thought and affection still for us, even as we have for 
them: and if they could serve us no otherwise than by thus drawing 
us by such sweet attraction whither they are gone, and so suggesting 
to our minds all that is pure and holy, and abiding, then even for us 
their departure was a gain. Still, like stars beaming through the 
night, they cheered our dreary pilgrimage, and inspired us to run 
with patience the race that is set before us. Beyond all doubt, they 
did perform for us a service growing out of more intimate relations, and 
leading to greater issues than we can venture to define in words; but 
only this we know, that if when here, with all their imperfections, 
they were to us a help and a joy, now that they are perfected they 
surely can be no less. But it was the services of angels and men 
ordained and constituted in a wonderful order, that the festival of 
this day more especially commemorated. Who, then, and what 
were the angels, their order, and their service? If this question 
were one of mere speculation, it would at least be equal in dignity to 
that which employs the minds of sages, in questions about the 
inferior creations of God. If the highest genius of the ages might 
exhaust its function on an insect or a worm—if the museums of 
science might display, as the choicest store of all their gleaning, the 
recovered fossil of an extinct life—if the great heart of man might 
thrill with new joy at the discovery of a lost bone, or the appliance 
of a new force—surely, it would not be unworthy of us if we lifted our 
minds to the creations that are above, and explored, among the 
recesses of that great eternity, for the orders that ascend from the 
sinner that here prays, to the seraph that there adores and burns. And 
if, as Jesus saith, when we pass these boundaries of time and sense, 
we become like unto the angels—if our endless future was to be 
among them, and of them, and they were even now our guardians and 
our brothers —surely it was not a vain question, who and what are 
they? But for us, my brethren of the clergy, it hath a special 
significance, in that we acknowledge, in the collect for the day, that 


282 


CHURCHES IN AMERICA. 


God hath ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in 
a wonderful order. 

“ The angels were united by some mystical tie, with the same body 
of which we are members, they are a ministering order in the Church 
of Christ. Now, the mediatorial reign of Christ, involves the sub¬ 
jection unto him of all things visible and invisible; the committing 
unto him of all power in heaven and earth; so that * since he hath 
gone into the' heavens,’ as saith St. Peter, ‘ angels, and authorities, 
and powers are made subject unto himso that the head of the 
church is head over all things. And, therefore, incidentally to their 
service in the kingdom of grace, angels are employed in the laboratory 
of nature, and i/n the administration of Providence.” 

The preacher next spoke of angels as exercising ministry and 
guardianship in the Church of God, and cited various proofs con¬ 
tained in the Scriptures, to show that they do exercise such 
ministry and guardianship; and then said:—“Thus, not alone, my 
brethren, do we preach the Word, and minister to dying men. All 
around us wait the unseen band, eager to bear, if it may be, above, 

the tidings of a sinner turned to God. God’s angels 

are his servants there, as really as within the sacred enclosure— 
the divine ecclesia —here. And so we find their footsteps, we hear 
their voices, we see their working hands, in all the mysteries of nature 
and the events of Providence.” 

At this point, the preacher adduced Scripture evidence to show 
that their agency in Providence is that of suggestion to the minds 
of men, and of performing visible, palpable acts: in which connection 
he quoted passages from the writings of Charles Wesley and Bishop 
Hall. He thought there was less difficulty in seeing and acknow¬ 
ledging the ministry of angels in the events of Providence than in 
nature. Much of the Atheism and Pantheism of the present day he 
thought might be traced to that Sadduceeism which does not believe 
in angels as present and active powers. After continuing his re¬ 
marks upon this portion of his subject for a short time, he closed 
with a very eloquent and stirring address to his brethren of the 
clergy, dwelling particularly upon the encouragement and comfort 
they might derive in the discharge of their sacred duties, from the 
fact that they are associated, in the ministry of reconciliation, with 
the Lord of glory and all his holy angels; and upon the necessity of 
the utmost faithfulness in their high calling, in order that they might 
be worthy of such exalted companionship. 



CHURCHES IN AMERICA. 


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The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, perhaps, the most successful 
orthodox preacher of America, in a sermon on Eph. i., 13,14, has 
the following observations:— 

** Christians have earnests of things spiritual and invisible. Ordi¬ 
narily we are under the influence of things which are seen. In our 
lower life we must be under the influence of sense. But now and 
then, we know not how, we rise into an atmosphere in which spirit- 
life, God, Christ, the ransomed throng in heaven, virtue*, truth, faith, 
and love, become more significant to us, and seem to rest down upon 
us with more force than the very things which our physical senses 
recognize. There have been times in which, I declare to you, heaven 
was more real to me than earth; in which my children that were gone 
spoke more plai/nly to me than my children that were with me; in which 
the blessed estate of the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven seemed 
more real and near to me than the estate of any just man upon earth . 
These are experiences that link one with another and a higher life. 
They are generally not continuous, but occasional openings through 
which we look into the other world. I cannot explain how or why 
they come. They may have a natural cause, though we have not 
philosophy enough to find it out. But there are these hours of 
elevation in which the invisible world is more potent and real to us 
than the visible world; in which our mind-power predominates over 
our flesh-power; in which we see through the body and discern the 
substance of eternal truths. 

“ I wish, to-day, to illustrate this general truth, that God gives to 
his children, in this world, intimations of that to which they are 
coming in the next world—first-fruits of joys, and experiences, and 
revelations, which they are to reap in full harvest by-and-bye. 

“ Indeed, there is not a material experience of human life, if we only 
knew how to interpret it, that has not its message and its teachings. 
As yet, we know but very little of the designed spiritual significance 
of physical things. They are, I suppose, in the sight of God, clothed 
with meaning which we are too unlettered to interpret. The whole 
rise, development and flow of our domestic affections; the whole realm 
of our experience, technically so called; and, over and above these, 
the special dealings of God with us by the Holy Ghost—these, all of 
them, if we only understood them, have an interpretive power. They 
not only have reference to present work, and present enjoyment, but 
they have a power of revealing something better yet to come. So 
that there is not one single joy that is more than a spark of that 


284 


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great orb off from which it flew; there is not one single flower of the 
spirit that does not tell of that garden of spiritual flowers from 
which it was plucked; there is not one single morsel of heavenly 
fruit that does not point us to that orchard above where it grew. 

“ It is true that, in the main, all these things fall out in the natural 
sequence of cause and effect, and are not in any sense intercalated or 
miraculously sent. They were not sent in any such way as to be out 
of the course of nature. Nature means what it seems to mean— 
material cause and effect; but this is not all. There is a more subtile 
meaning. Nature is organized to teach spiritual things. Human 
experience developed under natural influence teaches some things as 
much as God’s revelation, although it is not so easy to be understood 
till after we have been put in possession of the key by the Bible; for 
the Bible is God’s key for unlocking the natural world.” 

Inviting those who were present to partake in the communion he 
was about to administer, he said:—“ A great many are with us who 
are not visible, but who dwell in our midst in spirit. The Church in 
heaven and the Church on earth are one.” And in another sermon he 
observes:—“Christians are wont to walk in black, and sprinkle the 
ground with tears, at the very time they should walk in white and 
illumine the way by smiles and radiant hope. The disciples found 
angels at the grave of Him they loved; and we should always find 
them too, but that our eyes are too full of tears for seeing.” 

Probably no religious teacher in America ever found so large and 
sympathizing an audience as the late Dr. C hanning. “His words 
went like morning over the continents.” Widely differing in doc¬ 
trinal theology from the more orthodox divines whom I have 
quoted, there is yet between them a substantial agreement on the 
question of spiritual ministration ; for this faith underlies divergent 
points of doctrinal belief; it is a fundamental fact and outgrowth 
of the soul s consciousness—a primary rock-formation supporting 
superincumbent strata. Spiritualism, while attested by sensuous 
phenomena, has also its stronghold in the deep centres of the heart. 
In his sermon on The Future Life , Channing thus appeals alike to 
the understanding and the affections in evidence of its truth:— 

“Those who go from among us must retain the deepest interest in 
this world. Their ties to those they have left are not dissolved, but 
only refined. On this point, indeed, I want no other evidence than 
the essential principles and laws of the soul. . . . The good, will 
indeed form new, holier, stronger ties above; but under the ex- 


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panding influence of that better world, the human heart will be 
capacious enough to retain the old whilst it receives the new, to 
remember its birth-place with tenderness whilst enjoying a maturer 
and happier being. 

“Did I think of those who are gone, as dying to those they left, 
I should honour and love them less. The man who forgets his home 
when he quits it, seems to want the best sensibilities of our nature; 
and if the good were to forget their brethren on earth in their new 
abode—were to cease to intercede for them in their nearer approach 
to their common Father—could we think of them as improved by the 
change ? 

“ All this I am compelled to infer from the nature of the human 
mind. .. . Could we hear them, I believe they would tell us they 
never truly loved the race before; never before knew what it is to 
sympathize with human sorrow, to mourn for human guilt. A new 
fountain of love to man is opened within them. They now see what 
before dimly gleamed before their eyes—the capacities, the mysteries 
of the human soul. The significance of that word, ‘ Immortality,’ is 
now apprehended, and every being destined to it, rises in unutterable 
importance. They love human nature as never before, and human 
friends are prized as above all price. ... A new sense , a new eye might 
show the spiritual world compassmg us on every side.. . . They love us 
more than ever, but with a refined and spiritual love. Their spiritual 
vision pen'etrates to our souls.” 

And he contends that it would be a reproach to heaven and the 
good, to say that their happiness is founded on their ignorance of 
our wants or sufferings. Again, he remarks:—“We need not 
doubt the fact, that angels whose home is heaven, visit our earth, 
and bear a part in our transactions; and we have good reason to 
believe that if we obtain admission into heaven, we shall still have 
opportunity not only to return to earth, but to view the operation of 
God in distant spheres, and be his ministers in other worlds.” 

Truly, as Channing’s worthy successor in the pulpit, the Rev. 
Orville Dewey, remarks of the so-called dead:—“ Though they are 
invisible, yet life is filled with their presence. They are with us by 
the silent fireside, and in the secluded chamber; they are with us in 
the paths of society, and in the crowded assembly of men. They 
speak to us from the lonely way-side; and they speak to us from the 
venerable walls that echo to the steps of the multitude, and to the 


286 


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voice of prayer. Go where we will, the dead are with us.” And, as 
the same author remarks in his treatise on Erroneous Views of Death, 
with Suggestions towards their Removal :— 

“ The dead—the departed, should we rather say—are connected 
with us by more than the ties of memory. The love that on earth 
yearned, towards us is not dead; the kindness that gladdened us is 
not dead; the sympathy that bound itself with our fortunes is not 
dead, nor has it lost its fervour, surely, in the pity of an angel. No ; 
if our Christian guides speak truly, it still yearns towards us; it 
would still gladden us. It still melts in tenderness over our sorrows. 
The world of spirits—we know not where it is, whether far or near; 
but it may as well, for all that we can understand, be near to us, as 
far distant; and in that fervent love, which knows nothing of change, 
or distance, or distinction, it is for ever near us. Our friend, if he 
be the same, and not another being—our friend, in whatever world, 
in whatever sphere, is still our friend. The ties of every virtuous 
union are, like the virtue which cements them, like the affections of 
angels—like the love of God which binds them to the eternal throne, 
immortal.” 

There are clergymen of different denominations in America who 
openly declare their belief in Spiritualism, in its modern form, and 
use voice and pen in its exposition and advocacy. I have not referred 
to these, as my object in this, as in previous chapters, has been, 
not so much to treat of the Spiritualism of our day as a specific 
movement, as to illustrate the Spiritualism that lies outside and 
leyond it—entering as a pervading element into religious thought 
and feeling—a part of the general heritage of humanity. 

The following avowal of an orthodox clergyman, the Rev. J. B. 
Ferguson, of Nashville, Tenn., may, however, be cited as an instance 
of this class, in place of further enumeration. It is pleasing to be 
able to add, that notwithstanding this frank declaration of belief, 
his congregation, with great unanimity, retained him as their 
pastor. 

“It has been said, you believe in Spiritualism. I answer, un¬ 
hesitatingly, I do. So far as the word Spiritualism represents the 
opposite of the materialistic philosophy, I do not remember when I 
was not a Spiritualist. So far as it might represent devotion to 
spiritual things, such as truth, holiness, charity, it is my profession 
to be a Spiritualist. And so far as it represents now an acceptance 
of the possibility of spirit-intercourse with man, it is but candour 


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to say, I believe it without hesitcmcy and without doubt. That there 
are many absurdities and some mischief connected with what claims 
to be Spirit-manifestation, I know, but I know that there is also 
much truth and good. My brethren, I have examined this question 
in all the reverence for God and love for truth, of which my nature 
aud circumstances are capable. At home and abroad, for days and 
weeks together, alone and in company, with believers and sceptics, I 
have investigated; and I could neither be an honest man nor a philan¬ 
thropist, did I not say, I know that I have had intelligent and blissful 
communion with departed Spirits. . . . I call upon Heaven to witness 
that I have no consciousness of ever having stated a conviction in 
your presence, that was more a conviction of my highest reason 
than the solemn and yet joyous asseveration, that I believe God 
has granted spiritual intercourse to these times. And this conviction 
does not lessen any faith I have in God, in Christ, in the Spirit of 
Holiness, but only enlightens, hallows, and beautifies it, and deepens 
my reverence.” 

In concluding these chapters on Spiritualism in the Churches, 
there is one point to which I would briefly advert. I believe there 
is no Church calling itself Christian that does not recognise the 
operation of the Holy Spirit upon devout souls now and in all time, 
however variously they may explain it. How I would humbly sub¬ 
mit whether, as God in all hisi Providences, so far as we know them, 
works by instruments, the Holy Spirit may not, as a divine law, 
operate upon the innfost centres of our being by influx descending 
to us through beatified spirits, and thus be graduated in its operation 
to our different states, and in ways corresponding and best adapted 
to our different degrees of receptivity ? “ God does not speak to man 
immediately,” says Luther, “ Human nature could not endure the 
least syllable of the Divine utterance.” May not then the Divine 
Spirit operate in and through us by the mediation of those heavenly 
watchers and guardians appointed to minister to those who shall 
be heirs of salvation ? 

“ I am sure of one thing,” says the Rev. Dr. Chapin, “ I am sure 
that we have no right to limit the working of the Spirit of God 
Almighty, or the methods of his communication with the human 
soul. And yet this is done, and this is the great fault I find with 
the common theology, that it presumes that God can come in con¬ 
tact with the human soul only in one way. By thus doing, by 
shutting up this divine operation to a definite procedure—especially 


288 


CHURCHES IN AMERICA. 


by enfolding it in mysterious and technical phraseology, who can 
tell the harm that is done ? Who can measure the unreality that 
gathers about the entire subject of religion—hindering the substance 
by adherence to the form, and setting words before things? I repeat, 
if that contact of God with man has really taken place, who has a 
right to deny it because it has not taken place in his preconceived 
way, and can not be described in the terms of his theological voca¬ 
bulary ? This is that substitution of theology for religion which is 
the bane of the Christian world, and which is the occasion of incal¬ 
culable evil.” 

If asked what I conceive to be the tendency and highest develop¬ 
ment of an orderly Christian Spiritualism in its relation to the in¬ 
dividual, I should say, that first grounding men, as it does, in the 
belief and knowledge of a Spirit-world and an immortal life, it seeks 
by the development and ripening of whatever is best and highest in 
our nature;—in aspiration, in endurance, in action, in all the divinely 
appointed uses of our earthly existence, to bring us, as far as the 
limitations of our finite nature will permit, into union and communion 
with God, the Father of Spirits, that He may be one in us, and we in 
Him, God over all, and through all, and in us all. To the open soul, 
as Theodore Parker remarks—“ There is a continual pentecostal 
inspiration“ It is not given to a few men, in thfe infancy of man¬ 
kind, to monopolise inspiration and bar God out of the soul. You 
and I are not born in the dotage and decay of the world. The stars 
are beautiful as in their prime; ‘ the most ancient heavens are fresh 
and strong;’ the bird merry as ever at its clear heart. God is still 
everywhere in nature, at the line, the pole, in a mountain or a moss. 
Wherever a heart beats with love; where faith and reason utter their 
oracles there also is God, as formerly in the heart of seers and 
prophets. Neither Gerizim nor Jerusalem, nor the soil that Jesus 
blessed, is so holy as the good man’s heart; nothing so full of God. 
The world is close to the body; God closer to the soul, not only 
without but within, for the all-pervading current flows into each. 
The clear sky bends over each man, little or great; let him uncover 
his head, there is nothing between him and infinite space. So the 
ocean of God encircles all men; uncover the soul of its sensuality, 
selfishness and sin, there is nothing between it and God, who flows 
into the man as light into the air. Certain as the open eye drinks in 
the light, do the pure in heart see God, and he that lives truly feels 
him as a presence not to be put by.” 


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289 


Spiritualism may be approached by different roads, but this is the 
one end to which a divine Spiritualism ever tends. With one foot 
planted in the convictions, and the other firmly fixed in the affections 
and the will, it stands erect; its eyes toward heaven, its forehead 
bathed in celestial dews, it bids men through a divine life to realize 
the divine destiny for which God created them. Yes, just as man 
“lives truly” and “uncovers the soul of its sensuality, selfishness- 
and sin;” does he find that “there is nothing between it and God.” 
“ Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He 
hath given us of his Spirit.” 

If from considering the mission of Spiritualism to the individual, 
we consider it in relation to our present unspiritual and well-nigh 
stagnant churches, I do not know that this can be better presented 
than in the following passage from a popular divine of the Scotch 
Church—Dr. Hamilton :— 

“ When the tide is out, you may have noticed, as you rambled 
among the rocks, little pools with little fishes in them. To the 
shrimp in such a pool his foot-depth of salt water is all the ocean for 
the time being. He has no dealings with his neighbour shrimp in 
the adjacent pool, though it may be only a few inches of sand that 
divides them. But when the rising ocean begins to lip over the 
margin of his lurking-place, one pool joins another, their various 
tenants meet, and bye and bye, in place of their little patches of 
standing water, they have the ocean’s boundless fields to roam in. 
When the tide is out-—when religion is low—the faithful are to be 
found insulated; here and there a few, in the little standing pools 
that stud the beach, having no dealings with their neighbours of the 
adjoining pools, calling them Samaritans, and fancying that their 
own little communion includes all that are precious in God’s sight. 
They forget for a time that there is a vast and expansive ocean rising 
—every ripple, every reflux brings it nearer—a mightier communion, 
even the communion of saints, which is to engulf all minor con¬ 
siderations, and to enable the fishers of all pools—the Christians, the 
Christ-lovers of all denominations—to come together. When like a 
flood the Spirit flows into the churches, church will join to church, 
and saint will join to saint, and all will rejoice to find that if their 
little pools have perished, it is not by the scorching summer’s 
drought, nor the casting in of earthly rubbish, but by the influx 
of that boundless sea whose glad waters touch eternity, and in whose 
ample depths the saints in heaven as well as the saints on earth have 


290 


THE “PREACHING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 


room enough to range. Yes, our churches are the standing pools 
along the beach, with just enough of their peculiar element to keep 
the few inmates living during this ebb-tide period of the church s 
history. But they form a very little fellowship the largest is but 
little—yet is there steadily flowing in a tide of universal life and love, 
which, as it lips in, over the margin of the little pool, will stir its 
inhabitants with an unwonted vivacity, and then let them loose in 
the large range of the Spirit’s own communion. Happy church, 
farthest down upon the strand, nearest the rising ocean’s edge! 
Happy church, whose sectarianism shall first be swept away in this 
inundation of love and joy—whose communion shall first break forth 
into that purest and holiest, and yet most comprehensive of all 
communions—the communion of the Holy Ghost! 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE “PREACHING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 

As a fitting pendant to the preceding chapters on Spiritualism in 
the Churches, and in further illustration of its varied phases, I subjoin 
an account of the wonderful movement in Sweden, in 1842, which has 
been variously christened by our friends the doctors, and other learned 
persons, as—“The Preaching Epidemic,” “The Preaching Malady,” 
and “ The Preaching Disease.” This account, given by Mary Howitt, 
first appeared in Eountt's Journal, in 1847. Before quoting it, I 
would point out that, like the spiritual manifestations in America, 
and the recent Revival movement in Ireland, it appears to have 
commenced with one individual. Count Gasparin, who has written 
on this subject, says:— 

“The signal seems to have been given by a young girl sixteen 
years of age, Lisa Andersdocter, wbo all at once felt herself compelled 
to sing canticles, and who soon joined preaching to singing. She 
often fell into trances or into a state of vertigo. She pretended that 
every word she uttered was by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 
and that she could neither add to, nor take anything from it. Lisa 
soon had a multitude of imitators, especially among the young of 
both sexes. In vain did the Government and the clergy oppose the 
contagion; their intolerance, which was perhaps one of the principal 



THE “PREACHING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 


291 


causes of the movement, was not able to check it. The people 
generally took the part of the inspired ones, who even found a 
certain number of partisans among the ministers.” 

From Mrs. Howitt’s account, it will be seen that there are many 
striking analogies between this “Preaching Epidemic” and the 
Spiritual-manifestations in the present time, especially as seen in the 
recent wide-spread religious Kevival. The quaking;—the trance, 
spontaneously induced;—the preaching by persons who in their 
ordinary state had no gift of utterance, and even by children;— 
the graceful action—the rapt expression—the recognition of an 
intelligent and controlling influence—the altered phraseology—the 
marked attraction, in this state, to certain persons in preference 
to others ;—and the beneficial change of character which often followed 
these experiences, are all familiar to those intimate with spiritual 
phenomena. It will be remembered, too, that in the heroic struggle 
of the Camisars, phenomena of the same generic character as these 
in Sweden were witnessed, including the inspiration and marvellous 
utterance of children, “ some too young to speak naturally, to the 
astonishment of hundreds of spectators.” It is instructive, also, to 
note the tendency, even of the good bishop of Skara, to regard any 
unusual operation of spiritual forces as the action of disease—to be 
properly treated only by drugging the body into a state of insensi¬ 
bility. I sometimes wonder how our bishops and physicians would 
have treated those who on the Day of Pentecost spoke in tongues 
they had never learned. Judging by their avowed principles and 
acts, they would have regarded that great, spiritual outpouring as an 
“ Epidemic,” a “ Disease,”—and for its cure, a blue pill or a “ smart 
cathartic” would have been prescribed as the proper remedy. Mrs. 
Howitt’s narrative is as follows:— 

“A case of psychological sympathy has recently occurred - in 
Europe. 

“That portion of Southern Sweden formerly called Smaland, and 
which now comprises the provinces of Kalmar, Wexio, and Jon 
Kopping, though one of the poorest parts of the kingdom, is in¬ 
habited by a laborious and contented people. Their lot, which is one 
of extreme suffering and privation, is rendered endurable to them by 
their natural simplicity of character and deep religious feeling. About 
sixty years ago, a very strong religious movement took place among 
them, which, for political reasons or otherwise, Government thought 
fit to put a violent stop to, and with great difficulty it was done. 

u 2 


292 


THE “PREACHING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 


Whether there be a predisposition among these simple but earnest 
people for religious excitement, we cannot tell; but certain it is that, 
at the commencement of 1842, the singular phenomenon, of which we 
are about to speak, made its appearance among them, and, from 
its rapid spread, and apparently contagious character, and from the 
peculiar nature of its manifestations, it was popularly called the 
“ Preaching Epidemic.” 

“Dr. J. A. Butsch, Bishop of Skara, in Westgothland, wrote a long 
letter on this subject to Dr. C. P. Wingard, Archbishop oPUpsala, 
and Primate of all Sweden, which letter is considered so perfect an 
authority on the matter, that it is published in an appendix to 
Archbishop Wingard’s Review of the Church of Christ, an excellent 
little work, which has been translated into English by G. W. Carlsen, 
late Chaplain to the Swedish Embassy in London, a gentleman of 
great erudition and accomplishments. To this letter we shall have 
frequent occasion to refer. 

“ The reader will naturally ask, as the Bishop himself does, what 
is the Preaching Epidemic ? What it really was, nobody as yet has 
been able to say. Among the peasantry, the most general belief 
was, that it was an immediate divine miracle, in order to bestow 
grace on such as were afflicted with the disease, and as a means of 
warning and exhortation to those who saw and heard the patients. 
Among others, somewhat above the class of peasants, many denied 
altogether the existence of the disease, declaring the whole to be 
either intentional deception, in the desire of gain or notoriety, or else 
self-delusion, produced partly by an over-strained religious feeling, or 
by that passion of imitation which is common to the human mind. The 
Bishop himself was of opinion that it was a disease originally physical, 
but affecting the mind in a peculiar way. He arrived at this conclusion 
by attentively studying the phenomenon itself. At all events, bodily 
sickness was an ingredient in it, as it was proved from the fact, that 
although every one affected by it, in describing the commencement of 
their state, mentioned a spiritual excitement as its original cause, close 
examination proved that an internal bodily disorder, attended by 
pain, had preceded or accompanied this excitement. Besides, there 
were persons who, against their own will, were affected by the 
quaking fits, which were some of its most striking early outward 
symptoms, without any previous religious excitement; and these, 
when subjected to medical treatment, soon recovered. 

“ The Bishop must have been a bold man, and not afraid of ridicule; 


THE “PREACHING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 


293 


for, though writing to an Archbishop, he says, that though he will 
not give the disease a name, still he will venture to express an 
opinion, which opinion is, that the disease corresponds very much 
with what he has heard and read respecting the effects of animal 
magnetism. He says that he carefully studied the effect of sulphur 
and the magnet upon several sick persons, and found the symptoms 
of the Preaching Epidemic to correspond with the effects of animal 
magnetism as given in Kluge’s Versuch einer Darstellung des animal - 
ischen Magnetismus als Heilmittel. In both cases there was an increase 
of activity of the nervous and muscular system; and, further, 
frequent heaviness in the head, heat at the pit of the stomach, 
pricking sensation in the extremities, convulsions and quakings; 
and, finally, the falling, frequently with a deep groan, into a profound 
fainting fit or trance. In this trance, the patient was in so perfect a 
state of insensibility to outward impressions, that the loudest noise 
or sound would not awaken him, nor would he feel a needle thrust 
deeply into his body. Mostly, however, during this trance, he would 
hear questions addressed to him, and reply to them; and, which was 
extraordinary, invariably in these replies applied to every one the 
pronoun thou. The power of speech, too, in this state, was that of 
great eloquence, lively declamation, and the command of much purer 
language than was usual, or appa/rently possible for him in his natural 
state. The invariable assertions of all the patients, when in this 
state, were, that they were exceedingly well, and that they had never 
been so happy before; they declared that the words they spoke were given 
to them by some one else, who spoke by them. Their disposition of mind 
was pious and calm; they seemed predisposed for visions and pre¬ 
dictions. Like the early Quakers, they had an aversion to certain 
words and phrases, and testified in their preaching against places of 
amusement, gaming, excess in drinking, may-pole festivities, gay 
clothing, and the crooked combs which the peasant women wear in 
their hair, and which, no doubt, were objects of vanity and display. 

“ There was in some families a greater liability to this strange 
influence than in others; it was greater also in children and females 
than in grown-up people and men; and amongst men, those of a san¬ 
guine, choleric temperament were most susceptible. The patients 
invariably showed a strong desire to be together, and seemed to feel 
a sort of attraction or spiritual affinity to each other. In places of 
worship, they would all sit together; and it was remarked that when 
a person afflicted with the Preaching Epidemic, was questioned about 


294 THE “PREACHING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 

the disease in himself individually, he always gave his answer in 
behalf of them all; and thus said we, when the inquirer naturally 
expected I. 

“ From these facts, the learned Bishop infers that the Preaching 
Epidemic belonged to that class of operations which have been 
referred to animal magnetism. He says, that ‘ whatever may be the 
cause of this singular agency or influence, no doubt exists of its always 
'producing a religious state of mind, which was strengthened by the 
apparently miraculous operations from within. 11 He goes then into the 
question, whether the religious impression produced be in accordance 
■with the established notions of the operations of ‘ grace on the heart/ 
and decides this not to be the case, because the excited person, imme¬ 
diately after he begins to quake, experiences an unspeakable peace, joy 
and blessedness, not on account of new-born faith, through atoning 
grace, but by a certain immediate and miraculous influence from God. 
These are the Bishop’s own words. But with the polemical question 
we have nothing to do. However, the Bishop goes on to say, that 
whatever the origin of the disease may be, it characterises itself by 
Christian language, and makes its appearance with many truly 
Christian thoughts and feelings ; and that ‘ probably the disease has 
universally met with something Christian, previously implanted in 
the heart, to which it has, in an exciting way, allied itself.’ 

“With respect to the conduct and conversation of the patients 
during the time of their seizure, he says he never saw anything 
improper, although many strange rumours to the contrary were 
circulated and believed, to the great disadvantage of the poor people 
themselves. In the province of Elfsborg, where the disease prevailed 
to a great extent, bands of children and young people under its 
influence, went about singing what are called Zion’s hymns, the effect 
of which was signally striking, and even affecting. He says, that 

* to give a complete and detailed description of the nature of the 
disease would be difficult, because, like * animal magnetism,’ (we use 
his own words,) ‘it seems to be infinite in its modification and form/ 

“ In the above-mentioned province of Elfsborg, it was often said, 

* such and such a person has begun to quake, but he has not as yet 
dropped down, nor has seen visions, nor has preached 

“ This quaking, of which so much is said, appears to have been the 
first outward sign of the influence, the inward vision and the preaching 
being its consummation; though, when this consummation was 
reached, the fit mostly commenced by the same sign. Nevertheless, 


THE “PREACHING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 


295 


in some patients, the quaking decreased in proportion to the strength 
which the disease gained. These quakings also seem to have come 
on at the mention of certain words , the introduction of certain ideas, or 
the 'proximity of certain persons or things, which in some mysterious 
manner appeared inimical or unholy to the patient. Sometimes, 
also, those very things and words which at first affected the patient, 
ceased to do so as he advanced to the higher stages of the disease; 
and other words or things, which hitherto had produced no effect, 
began to agitate him in the same way. One of the patients explained 
the circumstance thus—that according as his spiritual being advanced 
upwards, ‘ he found that there existed in himself, and in the world, 
many things which were wors£ than that which previously he had 
considered as the worst.’ In some cases, the patients were violently 
affected by the simple words ‘ yes’ and ‘no;’ the latter word in par¬ 
ticular was most painful and repulsive to them, and has frequently 
been described by them as ‘ one of the worst demons, tied with the 
chains of darkness in the deepest abyss.’ It was remarked also, that 
they frequently acted as if they had a strong temptation to speak 
falsehood, or to say more than they were at liberty to say. They 
would therefore, exhort each other to speak the truth; and so 
frequently answered dubiously, and even said they did not know, 
when a contrary answer might have been confidently expected, that 
an unpleasant impression was frequently produced on the mind of the 
hearers; and some persons imbibed from this very circumstance 
unfavourable ideas of their truthfulness, when, in fact, this very 
caution and hesitation was a peculiarity of the disease. 

“ In the province of Skaraborg, the Bishop says he has seen several 
persons fall at once into the trance, without any preparatory symptom. 
In the province of Elfsborg, the patients preached with their eyes 
open, and standing; whilst in his own province of Skaraborg, he 
himself saw and heard them preaching in a recumbent posture, and 
with closed eyes, and altogether, as far as he could discover, in a 
state of perfect insensibility to outward impressions. He gives an 
account of three preaching girls in the parish of Warn ham, of ages 
varying from eight to twelve. This account, but principally as relates 
to one of them, we will lay before the reader. 

“It was shortly before the Christmas of 1842, when he went, 
together with a respectable farmer of the neighbourhood, the Rev. 
Mr. Zingvist, and the Rev. Mr. Smedmark, to the cottage where a 
child lived, who by all accounts had advanced to the highest stage of 


296 


THE “PREACHING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 


the disease. Many persons besides himself and his friends were 
present. As regards all the three children, he says, that for their 
age, as is generally the case in Sweden, they were tolerably well- 
informed on religions matters, and could read well. They were 
naturally of good disposition, and now, since they had been subject 
to the disease, were remarkable for their gentleness and quiet 
demeanour. Their manners were simple as those of peasant children, 
but being bashful and timid, were not inclined to give much descrip¬ 
tion of their feelings and experience; still, from the few words they 
spoke, it was evident that, like the rest of the peasantry and their 
own relatives, they considered it a divine influence, but still asserted 
that they knew not exactly what to thhik, either of themselves, or of 
their situation. When in the trance, they declared that they were 
exceedingly well, that they never had been so cheerful, or felt so 
much pleasure before. On being awoke, however, they complained, 
sometimes even with tears, of weakness in the limbs, pain in the 
chest, head-ache, &c. 

In the particular case of the one child to which we have referred, 
the symptoms were precisely the same : there came on, in the .first 
place, a violent trembling or quaking of the limbs, and she fell back¬ 
wards with so much violence, as to give the spectators a most pain¬ 
ful sensation; but no apparent injury ensued. The patient was now 
in the trance, or state of total unconciousness; and this trance, 
which lasted several hours, divided itself into two stages, acts or 
scenes, totally different in character. In the first place, she rose up 
violently, and all her actions were of a rapid and violent character. 
She caught at the hands of the people round her; some she instantly 
■flung aside, as if the effect produced by them was repugnant to her; 
others she held gently, patted and rubbed softly; and these the 
people called ‘ good hands.’ Though she was but a simple, bashful 
peasant child, clad in her peasant’s dress—a sheepskin jacket—yet 
all her actions and movements were free, and full of the most dra¬ 
matic effect: powerful and vigorous when representing manly 
action, and so indescribably graceful and easy, and full of sentiment, 
when personating female occupations, as to amaze the more cul¬ 
tivated spectators ; and, as the Bishop says, ‘to be far more like the 
motions of an image in a dream, than a creature of flesh and blood: 
Another circumstance is peculiar: although these children differed 
from each other in their natural state, yet, while under the influence 


THE “FREACI1ING EPIDEMIC” IN SWEDEN. 


297 


of the disease, their countenances became so similar, as greatly to 
resemble each other. 

“ The child next passed into the second stage of the trance, which 
was characterised by a most beautiful calmness and quietness, and 
with her arms meekly folded she began to preach. Her manner in 
speaking was that of the 'purest oratory ; her tones were earnest and 
solemn, and the language of that spiritual character which , when 
a/wake, it would have been impossible for her to use. The Bishop 
noted down her little discourse on his return home, and an analysis 
of it shows it to be an edifying practical address, perfectly conform¬ 
able to the pure spirit of the Gospel, and suited to an unsophisti¬ 
cated audience. During its delivery, the child had something saint¬ 
like in her appearance. Her utterance was soft and clear, not a word 
was retracted or repeated; and her voice, which in her waking state 
had a peculiar hoarseness, had now a wonderful brilliancy and 
clearness of tone, whioh produced great effect. The whole assembly 
observed the deepest silence , and many wept. 

Many of the patients were cured by medicines administered by the 
Bishop, who concludes by saying that the phenomenon lies out of the 
sphere of human knowledge, but that its extraordinary character has 
produced a great religious movement, and wrought much good. It 
has sent multitudes to church who never went there, and many have 
been thereby reclaimed from the error of their ways. Many passages 
in their history will strikingly remind the reader of the early Quakers. 
The number of persons affected in the province of Skaraborg alone, 
where the disease did not prevail so generally as in other parts, 
amounted in 1843 to 3,000; but in many places impostors affected 
the disease to gain a livelihood, and brought the real patients into 
discredit. The clergy and the doctors everywhere used all their endea¬ 
vours to extinguish the movement, and by the end of 1843 it had almost 
ceased. Nothing of the kind has since appeared; but the good effect 
it produced on the mind of many a hardened sinner remains to testify 
of its truth and reality, although no one, whether learned in the 
science of physical or spiritual life, can yet explain the cause and 
nature of this extraordinary mental phenomenon.” 



298 


APPARITIONS. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

APPARITIONS. 

Nearly three thousand years ago Homer represented Achilles as 
relating that:— 

“All night long, mourning disconsolate. 

The soul of my Palroclus, hapless friend. 

Hath hover’d o'er me, giving me in charge 
His last requests, just image of himself.”* 

No differences in race, language, religion, or civilization; no efforts 
of argument or of ridicule has uprooted from the common heart of 
humanity this deep-seated belief of the occasional appearance of 
departed spirits to persons living in the natural world. Indeed, no 
phase of Spiritualism would seem to have been so universal or so 
generally credited. The patriarch Job, and the Roman Brutus pro¬ 
fessed to have seen spiritual beings; and similar manifestations have 
been made to men in every age. The belief in them is equally an 
element in sacred, classical, and modern literature. It may be 
doubted if there is any people in whose religion, and literature 
some trace of this belief may not be found. “ That the spirits of 
the dead might and did appear,” says Hr. Adam Clarke, “was a 
doctrine held by the greatest and holiest men that ever existed, 
and a doctrine which the cavillers, free-thinkers, and hound-thinkers 
of different ages have never been able to disprove.” 

Whittier in his Supernaturalism of Neiu England, reminds us 
that:—“There is a lurking belief in nearly all minds, that there 
maAj be truth in the idea of departed spirits revisiting the friends 
and places familiar to them while in this life. . . . For five thou¬ 
sand years the entire human family have given it credence. It was 
a part of the wild faith of the Scandinavian worshippers of Odin. 
It gave a mournful beauty to the battle-songs of the old Erse and 
Gaelic bards. It shook the stout heart of the ancient. It blended 
with all the wild and extravagant religions of the East. How touch¬ 
ing is that death-scene of Cyrus, as told by Xenophon, when the 
dying monarch summoned his children about him, entreating them 
to love one another, and to remember that their father’s ghost 
would be ever at their side, to rejoice with their rejoicing, and 
sorrow with their sorrow! All nations, all ages, as Cicero justly 

* Cowper’s Iliad, Book xxiii. 


APPARITIONS. 


299 


affirms, have given credit to this ghost-doctrine, and this fact alone, 
Dr. Johnson argues, fully confirms it.” 

Mr. Grin don in his excellent work on Life : Its Nature, Varieties, 
and Phenomena , argues that:—“In all ages and nations, there 
has existed an intuitional conviction that the spirit of the dead im¬ 
mediately enters the eternal world, carrying with it an unmistake- 
able corporeal personality, (spiritual body) and that it can re-appear, 
under certain circumstances to the survivors. Rightly understood, 
ghosts are no mere offspring of vulgar, ignorant superstition and 
credulity. Our prejudices and education may dispose us to think 
otherwise, but we should be slow in chiding opinions which have 
been embraced by any considerable portion of our fellow-men, since 
the fact that a given doctrine has been widely accepted, and earnestly 
contended for, is a presumption that it contains a truth or an aspect 
of a truth, essential to the complete rational life of man.” “ Ghost- 
belief, rightly directed, has incomparably more truth in it than the 
dogmatic nonsense which describes the soul as a mere * principle!’ ” 

It is true that throughout Christendom, since the days of Voltaire, 
this belief has sensibly declined. The philosophy of the Encyclo¬ 
paedists has exercised, especially over literati and men of science, a 
considerable influence during the greater part of a century. With 
them, in general, the belief in spirits, and still more the belief in 
their occasional appearance and agency, has long been a pretty safe 
subject for a sneer—the mention of a “ ghost” a sort of razor-strop 
on which to sharpen their wits; and every educated person, under 
peril of contempt for ignorance and superstition, has had to join in 
their merriment, or maintain a discreet silence. Popular writers, 
and even theologians and churches, have been awed and educated 
into acquiescence, as is evident in the altered attitude of theological 
as well as popular literature in relation to this subject since the 
latter part of the eighteenth century. What that attitude generally 
has been, and still is, we well know, but it is well to keep in mind 
that the incredulity of this period is exceptional; the causes of it are 
not difficult to trace, and the signs of its decline are already mani¬ 
fest. 

In his Life of Blake, the spirit-seer and artist, Mr. Gilchrist 
remarks :—“ It is within the last century or so, that ‘ the heavens 
have gone further off,’ as Hazlitt put it. The supernatural world 
has, during that period, removed itself further from civilized, culti¬ 
vated humanity, (or vice versa) than it was ever before—in all time, 


300 


APPARITIONS. 


heathen or Christian. There is, at this moment, infinitely less prac¬ 
tical belief in an invisible world, or even apprehension of it, than at 
any previous historical era, whether Egyptian, classic, or mediaeval. 
It is only within the last century and a half, the faculty of seeing 
visions could have been one to bring a man’s sanity into question. 
Ever before, by simple, believing Romanist, by ancient awe-struck 
Pagan, or in the fervent East, the exceptional power had been ac¬ 
cepted as a matter of course in gifted men, and had been turned to 
serious account in the cause of religion.” 

In the seventeenth century, the belief in apparitions, and in the 
uses to which that belief is subservient, was almost universally ac¬ 
cepted. To quote only one illustrious example from among the emi¬ 
nent theologians of that time. Richard Baxter, in his Saints Ever¬ 
lasting Best, Part 2, Chap. VII, thus gives his testimony:—“For my 
own part, though I am as suspicious as most in such reports, and do 
believe that most of them are conceits or delusions, yet having been 
very diligently inquisitive in all such cases, I have received un¬ 
doubted testimony of the truth of such apparitions; some from the 
mouths of men of undoubted honesty and godliness, and some from 
the reports of multitudes of persons who heard or saw. Were it fit 
here to name the persons, I could send you to them yet living, by 
whom you would be as fully satisfied as I: houses that have been 
so frequently haunted with such terrors, that the inhabitants suc¬ 
cessively have been witnesses of it.” 

He quotes “learned, godly Zanchius,” (De Potentia Dcemonum) 
who tells us that: “ Besides the certainty of God’s word, we have also 
men’s daily experience,” and, he continues “ I could bring many 
examples of persons yet alive, that have experienced some of these 
in themselves.” Baxter goes on to say“ The writings of Gre¬ 
gory, Ambrose, Austin, Chrysostom, Nicephorus, &c., make frequent 
mention of apparitions, and relate the several stories at large. You may 
read in Lavater de Spedris several other relations of apparitions, out 
of Alexander at Alexandro, Baptister Fulgasius, and others. Ludo- 
vicus Vives (lib. I), Be Veritate Fidei, saith: ‘ That among the sa¬ 
vages in America, nothing is more common than to hear and see 
spirits in such shapes both day and night.’ The like do other wri¬ 
ters testify of those Indians: so saith Olaus Magnus of the Islanders. 
Cardanus de Subtilit. hath many such stories. So Joh. Manlius, 
in Loc. Common. Colledan. (cap. 4) de Malis Spiritibus et de Satisfac¬ 
tion. Yea, godly, sober Melancthon affirms that he had seen some 


APPARITIONS. 


301 


such sights or apparitions himself; and many credible persons of 
his acquaintance have told him, that they have not only seen them, 
but had much talk with spirits. 

“ Lavater also himself, who hath written a book wholly of appari¬ 
tions, a learned, godly protestant divine, tells us, that it was then an 
undeniable thing, confirmed by the testimonies of many honest 
credible persons, both men and women, some alive, and some dead, 
that sometimes by night, and sometimes by day, have both seen and 
heard such things ; some that going to bed had the clothes plucked 
off them; others had somewhat lying down in the bed with them; 
others heard it walking in the chamber by them, spitting, groaning; 
saying, they were the souls of such or such persons lately departed; 
that they were in grievous torments, and if so many masses were 
but said for them, or so many pilgrimages undertaken to the shrine 
of some saint, they should be delivered. These things, with many 
such more, saith Lavater, were then frequently and undoubtedly 
done, and that where the doors were fast locked, and the room 
searched, that there could be no deceit.” 

Even in the last century the spiritual belief was held by such men 
as Dr. Johnson and Judge Blackstone, Addison and Goldsmith, 
Wesley and Swedenborg, Watts and Doddridge. In his well-known 
Rasselas, Dr. Johnson, in his usual sententious way, says:—“ That 
the dead are seen no more I will not undertake to maintain against 
the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages and of all nations. 
There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the 
dead are pot related and believed. This opinion, which, perhaps, 
prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal 
only by its truth: those that never heard of one another would not 
have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience could render 
credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers can very little 
weaken the general evidence; and some who deny it with their 
tongues confess it by their fears.”* 

* Byron, too, with all his scepticism, avowed the same belief. It was, doubtless, in allusion to 
this passage of Johnson’s, that, (with a tone of levity which with him was often only the mask 
under which he could give more free expression to deep and earnest feeling), he wrote:— 

“I merely mean to say what Johnson said, 

That, in the course of some six thousand years, 

All nations have believed that from the dead 
A visitant at intervals appears. 

And what is strangest upon this strange head, 

Is, that, whatever bar the reason rears 
’Gainst such belief, there's something stronger still 
In its behalf, let those deny who will.” 



302 


APPARITIONS. 


Addison, in the Spectator, in reprobating an excessive and foolish 
credulity concerning the supernatural, remarks:—“ At the same 
time, I think a person who is thus terrified with the imagination 
of ghosts and spectres much more reasonable than one who, con¬ 
trary to the report of all historians—sacred and profane, ancient 
and modern—and to the traditions of all nations, thinks the ap¬ 
pearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. Could not I give 
myself up to this general testimony of mankind, I should to the 
relations of particular persons who are now living, and whom I 
cannot distrust in other matters of fact. I might here add, that not 
only the historians, to whom we may join the poets, but likewise the 
philosophers of antiquity have favoured this opinion.” 

And Dr. Watts, in his Essay toward a Proof of a Separate State 
of Souls between Death and the Bessurrection, observes :—“ At the 
conclusion of this chapter, I cannot help taking notice (though I 
shall but just mention it), that the multitude of narratives which we 
have heard of in all ages of the apparitions of the spirits or ghosts 
of persons departed from this life, can hardly be all delusion and 
falsehood. Some of them have been affirmed to appear upon such 
great and important occasions as may be equal to such an unusual 
event; and several of these accounts have been attested by such 
witnesses of wisdom, prudence and sagacity, under no distempers of 
imagination, that they may justly demand a belief. .... And in¬ 
deed the Scripture itself seems to mention such sort of ghosts or 
appearances of souls so departed. Matt, xv., 26: When the disciples 
saw Jesus walking on the water, ‘ they thought it had been a 
spirit ;* and Luke xxiv., 37: After His resurrection they saw Him 
at once appearing in the midst of them, and they supposed they 
had seen a spirit. And our Saviour doth not contradict their notion, 
but argues with them upon the supposition of the truth of it—‘ A 
spirit hath not flesh and blood as you see me have.’ And Acts 
xxiii. 8th and 9th verses, the word ‘ spirit ’ seems to signify the 
* apparition of a departed soul,’ where it is said, ‘ The Sadducees say 
there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spiritand verse 9, * If 
a spirit or an angel had spoken to this man,’ &c. A spirit here is 
plainly distinct from an angel, and what can it mean but an appa¬ 
rition of a human soul which has left the body?” 

As an illustration of the tone of thought, and in proof that 
“ ghost-stories” were related and credited, in what is called “ good 
society” in the latter half of the eighteenth century, take the fol- 



APPARITIONS. 


303 


lowing picture, sketched from life by Boswell. In his Life of John¬ 
son, there is this entry:—“ On Friday, April 10, (1772), I dined with 
him (Johnson) at General Oglethorpe’s, where we found Dr. Gold¬ 
smith. The subject of ghosts being introduced, Johnson repeated 
what he had told me of a friend of his, an honest man, and a man 
of sense (Mr. Cave, the printer, founder of the Gentleman’s Maga¬ 
zine), having asserted to him that he had seen an apparition. Gold¬ 
smith told us he was assured by his brother, the Beverend Mr. 
Goldsmith, that he also had seen one. General Oglethorpe told us 
that Prendergast, an officer in the Duke of Marlborough’s army, 
had mentioned to many of his friends that he should die on a par¬ 
ticular day; that upon that day a battle took place with the French, 
that after it was over and Prendergast was still alive, his brother 
officers, while they were yet in the field, jestingly asked him where 
was his prophecy now. Prendergast gravely answered, ‘ I shall 
die, notwithstanding what you see.’ Soon afterwards there came a 
shot from a French battery, to which the orders for a cessation of 
arms had not reached, and he was killed upon the spot. Colonel 
Cecil, who took possesion of his effects, found in his pocket-book 

the following solemn entry :—“(Here the date.) * Dreamt or- * 

Sir John Friend meets me’ (here the very day on which he was 
killed was mentioned). Prendergast had been connected with Sir 
John Friend, who was executed for high treason. General Oglethorpe 
said he was with Colonel Cecil, when Pope came and inquired into 
the truth of this story, which made a great noise at the time, and 
was then confirmed by the colonel.” 

I am aware that men of science have written many volumes, and 
will probably write many more, to explain away all spiritual appari¬ 
tions as hallucinations, optical illusions, and the like. All honour to 
them for their information on these interesting matters—information 
useful, certainly, but which, in relation to this theme, is often (like 
Don Diego’s sonnet to his mistress) very good in its way, but very 
little to the purpose; while much of what, under the name of 
science, popularly passes for reasoning, is so loosely jointed, as to 
amount to little more than this—that because we have found out that 
matter is composed of nine parts hydrogen, to one of oxygen, 


* “ Here was a blank, which may be filled up thus“ Was told by an apparition "—the writer 
being probably uncertain whether he was asleep os-awake, when his mind was impressed with th« 
solemn presentiment with which the fact afterwaxds happened so wonderfully to correspond.”— 
Boswell. 


304 


APPARITION S. 


therefore, there are no ghosts, and never were any. We know that 
the imagination may convert natural objects into phantoms; that 
refraction and reflection of the atmosphere, violent excitement, 
delirium, brain disease, &c., will cause illusions, and invest phan¬ 
tasms with the semblance of reality; or, as Dr. Ferriar tells us, 
will exhibit to the mind “ the forms of objects that have no external 
prototype.” But beyond, and differing in kind from these, are facts, 
classes of facts, which natural philosophy and physiology cannot 
explain. Nor is it unimportant that those who have had the twofold 
experience of spectral illusion and spiritual vision speak most 
absolutely as to their totally different nature. Dr. Justinus Kerner 
tells us that Mrs. Hauffe, the seeress of Prevorst, told him almost 
with her dying breath, “That during her fever, she often saw 
visions, all sorts of forms passed before her eyes, but it was impos¬ 
sible to express how entirely different these ocular illusions were 
to the real discerning of spirits; and she also wished other people 
were in a condition to compare these two kinds of perception with 
one another, both of which were equally distinct from our ordinary 
perception, and also from that of the second sight.” 

It would, indeed, be very difficult to conceive by what possible 
means a spirit could satisfy some minds of its actual presence* 
“ Suppose,” says the Rev. Charles Beecher, “ a departed spirit, the 
wife of Oberlin, for example, were permitted to attempt to converse 
with her husband—not to establish a new revelation—not to display 
divine power, but merely to exercise such potentiality as might 
pertain to a disembodied spirit, for her own and her husband’s 
edification and satisfaction. How could she do it in face of the 
apneumatic theories. She speaks to him, moves his furniture, 
touches his dress, his person; all automatic action of some brain en 
rcupport with that locality. She sings, plays the guitar or piano, 
takes a pencil and writes, and he sees the pencil in free space tracing 
his wife’s autograph;—automatic still. She shows him a cloudy- 

* Some tests put forward to distinguish a spectral illusion from a spiritual apparition are 
sufficiently whimsical: one scientific writer, I think, Sir David Brewstkr, tells us that “ optical 
illusions” will he “doubled by a straining or altering of the axes of the eyes, and by turning round 
as they are moved from the axis of vision.” Mr. Rich, in the Encyclopedia Metropolitan, 
remarks on this, after instancing the case of a lady who was baffled in this rather delicate 
experiment:—“ Few ladies, perhaps, would find it an easy task when suddenly confronted by a 
supposed spirit to alter the axes of their eyes, and try that little experiment upon its duplicity. 
It could only be a shade less difficult, not to say pert, though truly scientific in its way, to level an 
opera glass at such a visitor.” 


APPARITIONS. 


305 


hand, nay, a luminous form—and smiles and speaks as when in life; 
that is an optical illusion, or hallucination, or a particle exhaled from 
her body has impinged on his sensitive brain, and created a subjec¬ 
tive vision. She communicates facts, past, present, and future 9 
beyond the scope of his knowledge; that might be clairvoyance, or 
cerebral sensing. Alas ! then, what could she do more ? She must 
retire baffled, and complaining that he had become so scientific that 
all communication with him was impossible.” 

But, however men may be educated out of the belief in all spiritual 
appearance and intervention, this scepticism, artifically induced, 
seldom goes beyond the mere externals of the mind; the roots of that 
faith remain in it, and may yet grow when the obstructions of 
pride and prejudice are removed. It is one of those apparently 
instinctive, ineradicable beliefs, which go deeper than the mere surface 
opinions which men take from the society in which they habitually 
move. As Dr. Johnson remarks:—“The idea of the deceased re¬ 
visiting the scenes on earth, where in the flesh they had either 
suffered or rejoiced, seems to have been grafted in the human 
mind by the Creator.” Washington Irving, in writing on this 
topic, observesHowever lightly it may be ridiculed, yet the 
attention involuntarily yielded to it, whenever it is made the subject 
of serious discussion; its prevalence in all ages and countries, and 
even among newly-discovered nations, that have had no previous 
interchange of thought with other parts of the world, prove it to be 
one of those mysterious, and almost instinctive beliefs, to which, if 
left to ourselves, we should naturally incline.” And the Quarterly 
Review , (December, 1832,) writing against this belief, yet acknowledges 
that—“ Notwithstanding the eagerness with which almost all educated 
persons disclaim a belief in the supernatural, and denounce as a 
vulgar absurdity the very notion of apparitions, yet there are few, 
even of the boldest and least credulous, who are not occasionally the 
victims of the very apprehensions which they deride; and many of 
them have been driven to confess that their scepticism received a 
more powerful support from their pride, than from their reason.” 

To the same effect, a British Quarterly Reviewer, (October, 1862,) 
referring somewhat contemptuously to the various forms of “ direct 
communication with the spirit-world,” believed in by “millions,” 
yet goes to say:—“ Even amongst those who are enlightened enough 
to recognize all this as deception and imposture, how comparatively 
few there are, who after summing up their disbelief in all spiritual 

x 


306 


APPARITIONS. 


communications, will not add, somewhat thoughtfully, ‘and yet I 
remember—’ and proceed to relate some strange event either in their 
own lives, or as having occurred within the sphere of their own 
immediate acquaintance, supported by credible witnesses, some 
appearance, some sound, some warning sensation or another, not 
explicable, according to their view, by natural causes P 

It is easy to speak of the belief in the occasional appearance of the 
departed, as “ a vulgar absurdity,” and to tax those who entertain it 
with credulity; but they who do this should know that the credulity 
with which they reproach others, is sometimes more justly charge¬ 
able upon themselves; for there are two kinds of credulity; one, 
that seizes with avidity upon the marvellous and the supernatural, 
with little or no regard to evidence; while the other as eagerly 
snatches at anything by which it may hope so to evade or explain 
away the force of spiritual facts, as to bring them within the domain 
of common experience and sensuous observation. It can believe 
anything of matter, which it invests with almost the attributes of 
God; it can believe nothing of spirit: except, perhaps, as con¬ 
nected with the mere history of the religion it had been taught. If 
the former kind of credulity has in days gone by been too pre¬ 
dominant, the latter kind is now certainly too prevalent; and often there 
is reason to suspect that it is not wholly unmixed with a latent fear 
that this credulous incredulity is not quite trustworthy, and that the 
belief derided may possibly be true. Dr. Wilkinson remarks : 

«Nothing is more evident to-day, than that the men of facts are 
afraid of a large number of important facts. All the spiritual facts, 
of which there are plenty in every age, are denounced as superstition. 
The best attested spirit stories are not? well received by that scientific 
courtesy which takes off its grave hat to a new beetle, or a fresh 
vegetable alkaloid. Large wigged science behaves worse to our 
ancestors than to our vermin. Evidence on spiritual subjects is 
regarded as an impertinence by the learned; so timorous are they, 
and so morbidly fearful of ghosts. If they were not afraid they 
would investigate; but nature is to them a churchyard, in which 

they must whistle their dry tunes to keep up their courage. 

As the matter stands, we are bold to say that there is no class that 
so little follows its own rules of uncaring experiment and induction, 
or has so little respect for facts, as the hard-headed scientific men. 
They are attentive enough to a class of facts that nobody values—to 
beetles, spiders, and fossils; but as to those dear facts that common 



APPARITIONS. 


307 


men and women, in all time and place, have found full of interest, 
wonder, or importance, they show them a deaf ear and a callous 
heart. Science, in this, neglects its mission, which is to give us in 
knowledge a transcript of the world, and primarily, of that in the 
world which is nearest and dearest to the soul.” 

As a re-action against the mischievous superstitions of the middle 
ages, the attitude of modern thought to spiritual facts is intelligible, 
and has had its uses; but the tendency of all re-actions is to run 
into the opposite extreme, and this has certainly been no exception 
to the rule. But the re-action having done its work, it is now time 
that these facts be re-considered free from bias, and with whatever 
additional light has been since acquired. With Dr. Maitland, “ I 
believe that in the present day, we have less to fear from supersti¬ 
tion, than from that enlightened incredulity, which if it openly denies 
nothing, finds scarcely anything to believe.” As remarked in the 
article on “ Apparitions,” in the Encyclopedia Metropolitana —“ Who¬ 
ever applies himself to this subject, must feel that the time has gone 
by when the half-serious, half-burlesque manner adopted by writers, 
who perhaps perceived they had a reputation at stake, will satisfy 
the inquiring mind. Of late years the important question, whether 
the spirit really exists in distinct form after the death of the body, 
has shown a tendency to assume its proper proportion relative to 
other subjects of philosophical interest; and there is a large and 
increasing class of earnest minds, whom neither the smile of pity, 
nor the sneer of contempt, will turn from an investigation so becom¬ 
ing those who profess a belief in their immortal nature.” 

The “ tendency” to which Mr. Rich in the preceding extract refers, 
is also shown, not only in the present spiritual movement, but in the 
various investigations of this and analogous subjects conducted on 
independent grounds. Spiritualism being the centre of a number of 
converging lines. Let me give one or two facts in illustration : 

In 1851, a society was formed by some of the most distinguished 
members of the University of Cambridge, for the purpose of institu¬ 
ting “a serious and earnest inquiry into the nature of the phenomena 
which are vaguely called supernatural.” A copy of their circular 
will be found in the Appendix to Owen’s Footfalls on the Boundary 
of Another World. From one of its most distinguished members, Mr. 
Owen learned that—“ The researches of the society had resulted in a 
conviction, shared, he believed, by all its members, that there is 

x 2 


308 


APPARITIONS. 


sufficient testimony for the appearance, about the time of death or 
after it, of the apparitions of deceased persons; while in regard 
to other classes of apparitions, the evidence, so far as obtained, was 
deemed too slight to prove their reality.” 

One of the greatest intellects of the present century, the illustrious 
William Yon Humboldt, in one of his Letters to a Lad/y, dated April 
25, 1823, has the following reflections :— 

“That a beloved friend in the moment of dissolution may gain 
power over the elements; and in defiance of the laws of nature be 
able to appear to us, would be perfectly incomprehensible if it were 
not for the half-defined feeling in our hearts that it may be so. It is 
quite probable that a very earnest desire might give strength suffi¬ 
cient to break through the laws of nature. But there may be 
needed a peculiar disposition for the perception of a spirit, and we 
may often be unconsciously in the presence of myriads of disem¬ 
bodied souls. And this may be the reason why only so few people 
see, or why we so seldom hear ol any having seen spirits. Many 
of the accounts of the appearance of spirits to earthly eyes are 
fabulous, or may be traced tc natural causes. The faith which men 
have in this sort of thing is increased by their fear of the super¬ 
natural. But, on the other hand, many of these narrations may 
be true, and, indeed, it is very difficult to doubt the reality of even 
very supernatural events, when observed by many people of various 
dispositions, as was the case in the ghost-seeing at your house, 
since we might rather expect spectres to appear to solitary indi¬ 
viduals. I have already observed that in a certain susceptibility 
to the perception of the supersensual, men might have more of this 
direct communication with the spiritual world, if their minds were 
not bound so closely to earthly things; if they were more frequently 
to hold earnest and pious communion with their own souls; such 
was your father’s feelings. Whatever it may be, he treats the 
matter as it ought to be treated, neither with superstition nor 
disbelief. Your narration of this event has interested me very 
much, and I thank you heartily for it.” 

He writes again to the same lady, September 10, 1826 

“The account of the ghostly warning which you give is very 
wonderful. You received it, you say, when you first gave your con¬ 
sent to the marriage which caused you so much sorrow. And 
even more wonderful was the intimation of your mother’s death 


APPARITIONS. 


309 


at the same moment. It is impossible to deny that you did, in¬ 
deed, hear some voice. And it is quite as certain, from the total 
solitude and loneliness of your situation at the time, that it was 
the voice of no living being. It was a voice which sounded within 
your own spirit, although you seemed to hear it with your outward 
ears. There are many who would pronounce it only a deception of 
the imagination; who think that these appearances which are gene¬ 
rally thought supernatural, are simply the result of natural causes. 
Such persons will admit of no connection between the spiritual 
and material world, and believe that he who has seen anything of 
the kind, has only been affected by his fancy, or the state of his 
blood; that this may sometimes be the case, I will not deny, but I 
will not allow that it has never been otherwise with some men in 
some situations. You observe that you have become more and more 
convinced of the truth of the opinion expressed by Jung Stilling in 
his Theory of Ghosts, (a work which I have not read), that those of 
our friends who have gone before, still feeling for us an earnest love, 
are eager to protect us, and having then a clearer vision that they are 
anxious to make their presence known to us, in order to render their 
warning in important and remarkable circumstances more deeply 
felt. All this merely shows that they would re-enter into relation 
with us, while this itself must plainly depend on the freedom of our 
spiritual perceptions from the outward senses. In this state of 
freedom, to which no one can attain by his own mere will, you may 
probably believe yourself to have been, when, raised above all ordi¬ 
nary considerations, you wrote down your resolve. Your remarks 
are profound and feeling. There is, doubtless, a still, secret, un¬ 
earthly circle of existence perpetually surrounding us, although im¬ 
perceptible and invisible; and why should not the veil be raised for 
an instant, and that become visible which has no trace in the 
earthly life? Such was the case with you, the moment when you 
wrote down that determination which was to cause you so much 
unhappiness; you were warned by the voice of one who was soon to 
be no more, and at the moment which was so remarkably signified 
by the fact that your mother died at the same time one week after. 
This was certainly a supernatural occurrence. It was one of those 
omens, which sometimes, though rarely, occur—one of those indica¬ 
tions of a world, from which our ordinary life is separated by an 
impassable gulf. I thank you heartily that you have not omitted to 
state this circumstance.” 


310 


APPAKITIONS. 


In Tati's Magazine (November and December, 1856), appeared 
two papers of an earnest and thoughtful kind, to which I would 
refer as another instance of this tendency, and I cite it the 
more readily as the writer takes care to repudiate all connec¬ 
tion with the modern heresy of “ spirit-rapping.*’ His essay is en¬ 
titled The Lost Faculty; or, Sixth Sense, which, he says, existed in 
the early ages of the world, and “ consisted in the power of per¬ 
ceiving, by the ‘mind’s eye,’ spiritual beings with the same ordinary 
facility with which the corporeal eye perceives material substances.” 
This mental vision he believes to have been “ an ordinary endow¬ 
ment of humanity in its original state of innocencebut, “ by the 
fall and consequent corruption of the race, it was lost, or held in 
abeyance, as a common attribute of our nature; being, however, 
occasionally and temporarily restored or imparted to individuals for 
special purposes.” He affirms that—“ The Scriptures are full of in¬ 
stances of such apparitions, and of communications through their 
agency, with the inhabitants of this lower world; and there is no 
reason to suppose that what has happened may not happen again, 
nor have we any reasonable ground to think it impossible. The 
argument that the age of miracles has gone by for ever does not 
apply to these cases at all. The faculty of ‘ discerning spirits ’ is 
but the restoration of what was once common to our nature, and 
not the creation or impartation of something which did not before 

exist, which latter would constitute a miracle. Admit the 

existence of spiritual being, and the truth of the Scriptural account 
of their appearance, and the possibility, and thence the probability of 
a similar occurrence follows as a matter of course.” 

And he believes, “ that in every such instance (in Scripture), as 
well as in those in which apparitions have been seen in modern 
times, it has been through the medium of this sixth or mental 
faculty.” This faculty of mental, or, as we prefer to call it, spiritual 
vision, he considers is not wholly lost; though in abeyance, it is 
“ still latent in the human constitution.” By it “ short and tran¬ 
sient glimpses ” of the spirit-world are still possible. Spirit-seeing 
in the clairvoyant state produced by human magnetism, he regards 
as a means of its “artificial and temporary recovery.” He re¬ 
counts numerous scriptural, and also well-attested modern in¬ 
stances of spirit-appearances, dreams, visions, and second sight; 
and he asks, “Who will have the temerity to affirm, in the face 
of all the positive and negative evidence to the contrary, that 



SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


311 


it is either impossible or improbable that the spiritual beings of 
another world can return to this earth, and be permitted, on special 
occasions, to become visible to the mental perceptions of the still 
living P” 

Whatever the reader may think of this writer’s speculations, if he 
has but a moderate share of wisdom, or even of modesty, he will 
ponder the matter well ere he makes that affirmation. 


CHAPTEE XXIX. 

SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 

It is generally supposed that “ spirit-rapping” and kindred phe¬ 
nomena are peculiar to the movement which, originating in the little 
village of Hydesville, in the State of Xew York, has, in the last 
fifteen years, so rapidly and steadily advanced in public opinion in 
both hemispheres. This, however, is not exactly the case; the varied 
phases of modern Spiritualism, (enumerated in next Chapter), have 
all, to some extent, had their counterpart in bygone times. True, 
these phenomena are now more widely known, are beginning to be 
better understood than heretofore, and are being stript of the fac¬ 
titious mystery that once environed them ; but only to a very limited 
extent, if any, is it true that their beginning dates back no farther 
than our own time. I am not, indeed, aware that sounds and the 
movement of objects have ever before, on a broad scale, been used as 
a code of signals by which dwellers on the other side of the veil 
could communicate freely with those on this; many instances, how¬ 
ever, may be cited, in which, especially during the last three cen¬ 
turies, sounds and movements characterised by intelligence, and not 
traceable to mundane agency, have been heard and seen—and efforts, 
foiled only it would seem by mortal obtuseness, thus apparently 
been made by the invisible operators, to carry on an intercourse 
with men by their agency. It may be interesting and instructive 
briefly to advert to some of these unevoked phenomena, which thus 
link the spiritual manifestations of the past with those of the present 
time. 

Mr. Bich, referring to these phenomena, observes:—“ It is, to say 
the least, a remarkable fact, that such occurrences are to be found in 



312 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


the histories of all ages, and, if inquiries are but sincerely made, 
in the traditions of nearly all living families. The writer can testify 
to several monitions of this kind portending death, and the authentic 
records of such things would make a volume.” And among other 
instances, he tells us, that—“We read in Melancthon that Luther 
was visited by a Spirit, who announced his coming by a rapping at 
his door;” and that—“In 1620, a burgess of Oppenheim having 
died, they began to hear certain noises in the house where he had 
lived with his first wife, and the then occupants requested, if he was 
the person they suspected, that he would strike three times only, 
which he did distinctly. The rappings in this case, mingled with 
shrill cries, whistlings, and groans, continued for a year, when the 
restless Spirit was quieted by a compliance with his demands.” Mr. 
Spicer, in Sights and Sounds , speaks of these as “ very noted rap¬ 
pings,” and he tells us that, in Germany, the tradition of the 
Poltergeist, or rapping spirit, is certainly as old as the year 1135, and 
that its manifestations can be traced at intervals from that period. 
Michelet tells us of a minister in the environs of Torgau, who 
complained to Luther that for a year together, he and his family had 
been so persecuted by extraordinary noises and uproar—the throwing 
about of furniture and household articles, sometimes these being 
thrown at him by the mischievous invisibles, and by other annoy¬ 
ances, that his wife and children would no longer remain in the house. 

Mr. Jardine, in Notes and Queries, (vol. viii., p. 512), gives the 
following example of an early instance of this kind in England :— 

“ Rushton Hall, near Kettering, in Northamptonshire, was long 
the residence of the ancient and distinguished family of Treshams. 
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the mansion was occupied by Sir 
Thomas Tresham, who was a pedant and a fanatic; but who was an 
important character in his time by reason of his great wealth and 
powerful connections. There is a lodge at Rushton, situate about 
half a mile from the old hall, now in ruins, but covered all over, 
within and without, with emblems of the Trinity. This lodge is 
known to have been built by Sir Thomas Tresham; but his precise 
motive for selecting this mode of illustrating his favourite doctrine 
was unknown until it appeared from a letter written by himself 
about the year 1584, and discovered in a bundle of books and papers, 
inclosed since 1605 in a wall of the old mansion, and brought to light 
about twenty years ago. The following relation of a ‘rapping’ or 
‘ knocking,’ is extracted from this letter:— 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


313 


“ * If it be demanded why I labour so much in the Trinity and 
Passion of Christ to depaint in this chamber, this is the principal 
instance thereof; that at my last being hither committed (referring 
to his commitments for recusancy, which had been frequent), and 
I usually haying my servants here allowed me to read nightly an 
hour to me after supper, it fortuned that Fulcis, my then servant, 
reading in the Christian Resolution in the treatise of Proof that there 
is a God, Sfc., there was upon a wainscot table at that instant three 
loud knocks (as if it had been with an iron hammer) given, to the 
great amazing of me and my two servants, Fulcis and Nilkton.’ ” 

Mr. Mobley, who, in Household Words, casts denial and ridicule on 
modern “ spirit-rapping,” in his Life of Jerome Cardan, relates that— 
“At Pavia, one morning, while in bed, and again while dressing, 
Jerome heard a distinct rap, as of a hammer, on the wall of his 
room, by which he knew that he was parted from a chamber in 
an empty house. At that time died his father’s friend, Galleazzo 
E-osso. The disciples of certain impostors, who, in our own day 
have revived a belief in spirit-knockings in Hew York, may be 
referred to the works of Cardan for a few enunciations of distinct 
faith in such manifestations.” And he subsequently relates “a more 
curious example,” which happened to Cardan in the year 1537. 
While his mother lay awaiting death, he, one night, “heard a 
mysterious tapping, as of the fall of water-drops upon a pavement, 
and he counted nearly one hundred and twenty distinct raps.” He 
was in doubt, however, as # to their significance, and whether they 
were indeed spiritual manifestations; perhaps, one of the servants 
might be practising on his anxiety. But, as if to assure his faith, on 
the next day, when the sun was high, and he, being up and awake, 
could assure himself that nobody was near him, the raps were 
repeated. He counted fifteen strokes. Afterwards, he heard in the 
night a heavy sound, as of the unloading of a waggonful of planks. 
It caused the bed to tremble. Soon after his mother died. 

In 1535, at the College of Loretto, a spirit was not only seen, “but 
he infested an empty room, and it seemed as if all the furniture was 
being shifted about and thrown on the ground, although nothing 
was ever found out of its place. Sometimes, whilst the brethren 
were at prayer, he knocked upon the bench they were kneeling at, 
and sometimes he was heard making a noise at the head of their 
beds.” The Spirit was commanded in the name of God, to go to 
the rector if he wanted anything, and leave the other inmates of the 


314 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


college in peace. And the rector tells us:—“ More than once it 
happened that when the evil spirit had been thus adjured he came 
and knocked at my door.” This, and more of the same kind, was 
solemnly deposed to by Oliver Manareo, rector of the college, on 
being examined before the Court in Flanders ; and is circumstantially 
detailed by Mariana in his Life of Ignatius Loyola. 

In 1661, the house of a Mr. Mompesson, a magistrate, residing at 
Tedworth, Wilts, was the scene of extraordinary disturbances; the 
circumstances of which are fully detailed by the King’s chaplain, 
the Rev. Joseph G-lanvil, F.R.S., who personally and thoroughly 
investigated the case, and drew up his narrative “ partly from his 
(Mr. Mompesson’s) own mouth, related before divers, who had been 
witnesses of all, and confirmed his relation, and partly from his 
own letters, from which the order and series of things is taken.” 
As an account of this case has been frequently published, I give 
only its leading incidents. A vagrant drummer had been beating 
his drum up and down the country, and extorting money under 
the pretended authority of a warrant, which, with his pass, was 
found to be counterfeit. Mr. M., on making this discovery, caused 
the drummer to be arrested, and the drum taken from him. On 
returning from a short visit to London a few weeks after, Mr. 
Mompesson was informed by his wife, “that they had been much 
frightened in the night by thieves, and that the house had been like 
to have been broken into.” And he had not been at home above 
three nights, when the same noise was heard that had disturbed 
his family in his absence. “ It was a very great knocking at his 
doors, and the outside of his house: hereupon he got up, and went 
about the house with a brace of pistols in his hand; he opened the 
door where the great knocking was, and then he heard the noise 
at another door; he opened that also, and went out round the house, 
but could discover nothing, only he still heard a strange and hollow 
sound. When he was got back to bed, the noise was a thumping 
and drumming on the top of his house, which continued some time, 
and by degrees subsided.” 

This was the commencement of the disturbance, which afterwards 
“ was very frequent, usually five nights together, and then it would 
intermit three.” After a month’s disturbance without, it came into 
the room where the drum lay, four or five nights, in seven, within 
half an hour after they were in bed, continuing almost two hours. 
The sign of it, just before it came was, they still heard a hurling 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


315 


in the air over the house, and, at its going off, the beating of a 
drum, like that of a breaking up of a guard. It continued in this 
room for the space of two months, which time Mr. Mompesson him¬ 
self lay there to observe it.” 

While Mrs. Mompesson was in child-bed, there was a cessation 
of the knocking, but afterwards, it “ returned in a ruder manner 
than before, and followed and vexed the youngest children, beating 
their bedsteads with such violence, that all present expected they 
would fall in pieces. In laying hands on them, one could feel no 
blows, but might perceive them to shake exceedingly: for an hour 
together it would beat the tat-too, and several other points of war, 
as well as any drummer.” 

It was observed that it would exactly answer in drumming anything 
that was beaten or called for, and that, “When the noise was loudest, 
and came with the most sudden and surprising violence, no dog 
about the house would move, though the knocking was often so 
boisterous and rude, that it had been heard at a considerable dis¬ 
tance in the fields, and awakened the neighbours in the village, none 
of whom lived very near the house.” “ During the time of the 
knocking, when many were present, a gentleman of the company 
said, ‘ Satan, if the drummer set thee to work, give three knocks 
and no more,’ which it did very distinctly and stopped. Then the 
gentleman knocked to see if it would answer him as it was wont, 
but it did not: for farther trial, he bid it for confirmation, if it were 
the drummer, to give five knocks, and no more that night, which it 
did, and left the house quiet all the night after. This was done in 
the presence of Sir Thomas Chamberlain, of Oxfordshire, and divers 
others.” Glanvil says :—“ I had been told it would imitate noises, 
and I made trial by scratching several times upon the sheet, as 
five, seven, and ten, which it followed still stopping at my number. 
I searched under and behind the bed, turned up the clothes to the 
bed-cords, grasped the bolsters, sounded the wall behind, and made 
all the search that I possibly could, to find if there were any trick, 
contrivance, or common cause of it; the like did my friend, but we 
could discover nothing.” 

Besides these strange sounds, there were other mysterious phe¬ 
nomena, produced without visible agency, and which could not be 
traced to any natural cause; such as these :—“ On the 5th of No¬ 
vember, 1661, it kept a mighty noise, and a servant observing two 
boards in the children’s room seeming to move, he bid it give him 


316 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


one of them; upon which, the board come (nothing moving it, that 
he saw) within a yard of him: the man added, ‘Nay, let me have it 
in my hand;’ upon which it was shoved quite home to him again, 
and so up and down, to and fro, at least twenty times together, till 
Mr. Mompesson forbade his servant such familiarities.” On the 
same night, as soon as prayers were done, “ In sight of the company 
the chairs walked about the room of themselves, the children’s shoes 
were hurled over their heads, and every loose thing moved about 
the chamber. At the same time, a bed-staff was thrown at the 
minister, which hit him on the leg, but so favourably that a lock of 
wool could not fall more softly, and it was observed that it stopped 
just where it lighted, without rolling or moving from the place.” 
Strange lights were also seen in the house. “ One of them came 
into Mr. Mompesson’s chamber, which seemed blue and glimmering, 
and caused great stiffness in the eyes of those that saw it. After 
the light, something was heard coming up the stairs, as if it had 
been one without shoes. The light was seen also four or five times 
in the children’s chamber; and the maids confidently affirm, that 
the doors were at least ten times opened and shut in their sight, 
and when they were open, they heard a noise as if half a dozen had 
entered together, after which, some were heard to walk about the 
room, and one rustled as if it had been silk; Mr. Mompesson himself 
once heard these noises.” The hair and bed-clothes of the servants 
and children would be plucked at, and, “the servants sometimes 
were lifted up in their beds, and let gently down again without 
hurt, at other times, it (the invisible something) would lie like a 
great weight upon their feet.” On trial of the drummer, it was 
sworn to, that he had boasted that he had thus plagued Mr. M., 
for taking away his drum. And we are told, he “used to talk 
much of gallant books he had of an old fellow, who was accounted a 
wizard.” 

Glanvil concludes his narrative with remarking that “ These 
things were not done long ago, or at far distance, in an ignorant 
age, or among a barbarous people, they were not seen by two or 
three only of the melancholic and superstitious, and reported by 
those that made them serve the advantage and interest of a party. 
They were not the passages of a day or night, nor the vanishing 
glances of an apparition; but these transactions were near and late , 
public, frequent, and of divers years’ continuance, witnessed by multi¬ 
tudes of competent and unbiassed attestors , and acted in a searching, 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 317 

incredulous age. Arguments enough, one would think, to satisfy 
any modest and capable reason.” 

In a letter to Glanvil, dated November 8, 1672, Mr. Mompesson 
writes :—“ I have been very often of late asked the question, whether 
I have not confessed to his Majesty, or any other, a cheat discovered 
about that affair. To which I gave, and shall to my dying day give 
the same answer, that I must belie myself, and perjure myself also, 
to acknowledge a cheat in a thing where I am sure there was none, 
nor could be any, as I, the minister of the place, and two other 
honest gentlemen deposed at the Assizes, upon my impleading the 
drummer.” And when the same rumour some years after was re¬ 
vived, John Wesley in the Arminian Magazine, replied, “Not so; 
my eldest brother, then at Christ Church, Oxon, inquired of Mr. 
Mompesson, jun., his fellow-collegian, whether his father had ac¬ 
knowledged this, or not ? He answered, ‘ The resort of gentlemen 
to my father’s house was so great he could not bear the expense. He 
therefore took no pains to confute the report that he had found out 
the cheat, although he and I, and all the family knew the account 
which was published was strictly true.’ ” 

Glanvil also mentions some knockings at a house in Little Burton, 
in Somersetshire, in 1677, where a spirit-hand was likewise seen. 
In 1679, knockings were also heard at the house of a Mr. Lawrence, 
in the Little Minories, London. 

Dr. Henry More, in his Antidote against Atheism (1655) tran¬ 
scribes from Bodinus what he calls—“ A very remarkable narrative 
of a certain pious man, (supposed to be Bodinus himself) who had the 
continual society of a guardian genius.” “ He that writes it,” says 
More, “ had it from the man’s own mouth whom it concerns, and 
is as follows :— 

“ This person, a holy and pious man, as it should seem, and an 
acquaintance of Bodinus’s, freely told him how that he had a certain 
spirit that did perpetually accompany him, which he was then first 
aware of when he had attained to about thirty-seven years of age, 
but conceived that the said spirit had been present with him all his 
lifetime, as he gathered from certain monitory dreams and visions, 
whereby he was forewarned as well of several dangers as vices. That 
this spirit discovered himself to him after he had for a whole year 
together earnestly prayed to God to send a good angel to him, to be 
the guide and governor of his life and actions; adding also, that 
before and after prayer he used to spend two or three hours in 


318 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


meditation and reading the Scriptures, diligently inquiring with 
himself, what religion, amongst those many that are controverted in 
the world, might be best, beseeching God that he would be pleased 
to direct him to it ... . That while he was thus busy with him¬ 
self in matters of religion, he lit on Philo-Judseus in his book Be 
Sacrificius, where he writes that ‘ a good and holy man can offer no 
greater nor more acceptable sacrifice to God, than the oblation of 
himself;’ and therefore following Philo’s counsel, that he offered his 
soul to God. And that after that, amongst many other divine 
dreams and visions, he once in his sleep seemed to hear the voice 
of God saying to him, ‘ I will save thy soul, I am He that before ap¬ 
peared unto thee.’ Afterwards that the spirit every day would knock 
at the door about three or four o’clock in the morning, though he, 
rising and opening the door, could see nobody, but that the spirit per¬ 
sisted in this course, and unless he did rise, would thus rouse him up. 

“ This trouble and boisterousness made him begin to conceive that 
it was some evil spirit that thus haunted him, and therefore he daily 
prayed earnestly to God that he would be pleased to send a good 
cmgel to him: and often also he sang psalms, having most of them 
by heart. Wherefore the spirit afterward knocked more genthj at the 
door, and one day discovered himself to him waking, which was the 
first time that he was assured by his senses that it was he; for he 
often touched and stirred a drinking glass that stood in his chamber, 
which did not a little amaze him. 

“ Two days after, when he entertained at supper a certain friend 
of his, secretary to the King, that this friend of his was much 
abashed, while he heard the spirit thumping on the bench hard by 
him, and was stricken with fear, but he bade him be of good courage, 
there was no hurt towards him; and the better to assure him of it, 
told him the truth of the whole matter. Wherefore from that time,” 
saith Bodinus, “ he did affirm that this spirit was always with him, 
and by some sensible sign did ever advertise him of things, as by 
striking his right ear, if he did anything amiss, if otherwise, his left. 
If anybody came to circumvent him, that his right ear was struck, 
but his left ear, if a good man and to good ends accosted him. If 
he was about to eat or drink anything that would hurt him, or pur¬ 
posed with himself to do anything that would prove ill, that he was 
inhibited by a sign, and if he delayed to follow his business, that he 
was quickened by a sign given him. When he began to praise God 
in psalms, and to declare his marvellous acts, that he was presently 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


319 


raised and strengthened with a spiritual and supernatural power. 

. . . . But in his conversing with others, if he had talked vainly 
or indiscreetly, or had some days together neglected his devotions, 
that he was forthwith admonished thereof by a dream, that he 
was also admonished to rise betimes in the morning, and that about 
four of the clock, a voice would come to him whilst he was asleep, 
saying, “ Who gets up first to pray P” 

“He told Bodinus also, how he was often admonished to give 
alms, and that the more charity he bestowed, the more prosperous 
he was. And that on a time when his enemies sought after his life, 
and knew that he was to go by water, that his father in a dream 
brought two horses to him, the one white, the other bay; and that 
therefore he bade his servant hire him two horses, and though he 
told him nothing of the colours, that yet he brought him a white one 
and a bay one. That in all difficulties, journeyings, and what cither 
enterprises soever, he used to ask counsel of God; and that one 
night, when he had begged his blessing, while he slept he saw a 
vision, wherein his father seemed to bless him. At another time, 
when he was in very great danger, and was nearly gone to bed, he 
said that the spirit would not let him alone till he had raised him 
again, whereupon he watched and prayed all that night. The day 
after he escaped the hands of his persecutors in a wonderful manner; 
which being done, in his next sleep he heard a voice saying, ‘Now 
sing Qui sedet in latibulo Altissimi.’ A great many other passages 
this person told Bodinus, so many, indeed, that he thought it an 
endless labour to recite them all. 

“ Bodinus asked him why he would not speak to the spirit for the 
gaining of more plain.and familiar converse with it. He answered, 
that he once attempted it, but the spirit instantly struck the door with 
that vehemency as if he had knocked upon it with a hammer; whereby 
he gathered his dislike of the matter. But though the spirit would 
not talk with him, yet he could make use of his judgment in the 
reading of books, and moderating his studies. For if he took an ill 
book into his hands, and fell a-reading, the spirit would strike it, 
that he might lay it down; and would also sometimes, be the books 
what they would, hinder him from reading and writing overmuch, 
that his mind might rest, and silently meditate with itself. He added 
also, that very often while he was awake, a small, subtle, inarticulate 
sound would come into his ears. 

“ Bodinus further inquiring whether he ever saw the shape and. 



320 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


form of the spirit, he told him that while he was awake he never saw 
anything but a certain light, very bright and clear, and of a round 
compass and figure ;* but that cnce, being in great jeopardy of his 
life, and having heartily prayed to God that he would be pleased to 
provide for his safety, about break of day, amidst his slumbering 
and waking, he espy’d on his bed where he lay, a young boy clad in 
a white garment, tinctured somewhat with a touch of purple, and 
of a visage admirably lovely and beautiful to behold. This he con¬ 
fidently affirmed to Bodinus for a certain truth.” 

In a supplement to Glanvil’s work, Dr. More gives “ A re¬ 
markable story touching the stirs made by a daemon in the family of 
one Gilbert Campbel, by profession a weaver, in the old parish of 
Glenluce, in Galloway, in Scotland,” in November, 1654. Among 
other phenomena in this case, we read that “ presently there appeared 
a naked hand and arm from the elbow down, beating upon the floor 
till the house did shake again.” Dr. More says that he was told by 
Dr. Gilbert Burnet, (author of the History of the Reformation, &c.,) 
that “ all the passages in this case would make a volume, and that 
there was a full relation thereof under the hands of eye-witnesses 
and “ that he living in Glasgow some years, found all people there 
and in the county about, fully persuaded of the truth of the matter 
of fact.” A Solemn Humiliation by order of the Synod of Presby¬ 
ters, was kept throughout all the bounds of the Synod, to request 
God in behalf of the afflicted family. 

The same writer gives a transcription from Dr. Plot’s History of 
Oxfordshire, of certain “ strange knockings” that used to be heard at 
intervals from 1661 to 1674, at the house of Captain Basil Wood, of 
Bampton, and at the house of his son, Mr. Basil Wood, of Exeter, 
“a little before the death of those of that family,” and which 
“ were given very audibly to all that were then in the house.” 

Dr. More further writes :—“ A true and faithful narrative of the 
disturbances which was in the house of Sir William York, in the 
parish of Lessingham, in Lincolnshire,” from May to October, 1796. 
Noises were heard of a violent knocking at the door, under the 
stairs, on the ceiling and top of the room, not above half a score 
strokes at a time, yet sometimes fewer and sometimes more.” The 
invisible knocker also imitated the various noises made by the work- 

* Compare with this an article by Mr. Howitt— “Berg-Geister—Clamps-in-the-Wood, in 
the Spiritual Magazine, No. 10, Vol. III.; also, Coleman’s Spiritualism in America, pp. 12, 
24; and Home’s Incidents in My Life, p. 131. 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


321 


men and servants, and made a “ very great drumming at a pair of 
wainscot doors between the ball and the great parlour, imitating 
drummers in their several ways of beating, and varying it as they 
usually do; but it was as if it was done with hands against the 
wainscot.” Sometime the noises were such, that “ it was impossi¬ 
ble for all the art and strength of man to make such a noise without 
battering the doors in pieces ; and yet, examining them, they found 
the doors firm and whole, not the least battered or strained.” These 
knockings were “heard alike by twenty several persons then in the 
family, who, looking out of the windows over the door, heard the 
noise, but saw nothing.” They were heard—“ Sometimes every 
other night, sometimes every night. Sometimes knocking at the 
doors of out-houses, at the wash-house, brew-house and stable-doors ; 
and as they followed it from place to place, it still immediately and 
in one instant removed.” Every scrutiny was made: the house was 
searched everywhere. All the family and servants were taken into 
one room; while Sir William, who “ used all possible care and dili¬ 
gence to discover the imposture, if there had been any, locked all 
the out doors of the house, and kept the keys—which, indeed, was 
every night done—and went himself first to one, then the other side 
of the door whence the noises were heard, repeating the experiment 
several times successively in one night, but could discover nothing. 
When persons went out to the door, or went out in the time of such 
disturbances, they could see nobody, nor perceive any motion in 
anything on which the invisible agent did seem to operate,” although, 
as one of the witnesses declared, “ touching this thumping at the 
door, he could not compare it to anything better, as to the force 
thereof, than to the Roman ram which the Romans battered down 
walls with.” Not only the family and servants, but most of Sir 
William’s tenants watched the house in turn; so that “ there were 
at least forty persons that were eye-witnesses; or rather ear-wit¬ 
nesses—the disturbance being here noises, not apparitions properly 
so called. Most of the servants are still in Sir William’s family, 
that were there in the time of the disturbance; so that if any one 
have the curiosity to enquire of the truth of the business, he may 
easily get full satisfaction in the parish of Lessingham.” There was 
also the same visible movement of chairs and other articles by invis¬ 
ible agency in this, as in other cases. 

Aubrey, in his Miscellanies (published 1696) tells us that “ Three 
or four days before my father died, as I was in my bed about nine 

Y 


322 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


o’clock in the morning perfectly awake, I did hear three distinct 
knocks on the bed’s head, as if it had been with a ruler or ferula.” 
and he mentions that “Major John Morgan, of Wells, did aver, 
that as he lay in bed with Mr. — Barlow (son of the Dean of 
Wells) they heard three distinct knocks on the bed: Mr. Barlow 
shortly after fell sick and died.” And “Mr. Hierome Banks, as he 
lay on his death-bed, in Bell Yard, said, three days before he died, 
that Mr. Jennings of the Inner Temple (his great acquaintance, dead 
a year or two before) gave three knocks, looked in and said, ‘ Come 
away.’ He was as far from believing such things as any man.” 
Aubrey, I may remark, was a scholar and antiquarian, and a man of 
the highest integrity. Toland, (who was a deist) says of him, 
“ Though he was extremely superstitious, or seemed to be so, yet 
he was a very honest man, and most accurate in his account of 
matters of fact.” 

The Rev. Richard Baxter gives the following relation, which is 
also referred to by Defoe as one “ that not even the most devout 
and precise Presbyterian will offer to call in question— 

“ There is now (1691.) in London an understanding, sober, pious 
man, oft one of my hearers, who hath an elder brother, a gentleman 
of considerable rank, who having formerly seemed pious, of late 
years doth oft fall into the sin of drunkenness. He oft lodgeth 
long together here, in this his brother’s house. And whenever he 
is drunken, and hath slept himself sober, something knocks at his 
bed’s head, as if one knocked on a wainscot; when they remove 
his bed it followeth him. Besides loud noises on other parts where 
he is, that all the house heareth. They have oft watched, and kept 
his hands, let he should do it himself. His brother hath oft told it 
me, and brought his wife (a discreet woman) to attest it; who 
averreth moreover, that as she watched him, she has seen his shoes 
under the bed taken up, and nothing visible touch them. They 
brought to me the man himself, and when we ask him how he dare 
so sin again, after such a warning, he hath no excuse. But being 
persons of quality, for some special reason of worldly interest, I 
must not name him. 

“It poseth me to think what kind of spirit this is, that hath such 
a care of this man’s soul (which maketh me hope he will recover). 
Do good spirits dwell so near us P or are they sent on such mes¬ 
sages ? oris it his guardian angel P or is it the soul of some dead 
friend that suffereth, and yet, retaining love to him, as Dives to his 



SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


323 


brethren, would have him saved ? God yet keepeth such things from 
us in the dark.” 

Calmet, in his Phantom World , refers to some remarkable occur-' 
rences which happened in 1706, at St. Maur, near Paris, to M. de 

S-, a young man about twenty-five years of age who, with his 

friends and domestics, repeatedly heard loud knocks on the door, 
on the wall above his head, and against the window, the latter so 
violently that those who heard it thought all the panes were broken.. 
In this case there was also the frequent removal from their places 
of heavy articles of furniture; the opening and closing of doors— 
the bolts being shot into their places, and the simultaneous opening 
of all the bed-curtains in the house, by invisible agency. These 
things occurred again and again to the astonishment and alarm of 

the witnesses. One evening about six o’clock, M. de S- heard a 

distinct voice at his left ear, which ordered him, tlieeing and thouing 
him, to do some particular thing within a specified time, and to 
keep it secret. We are left to infer that he complied, for all that 
occurred subsequently happened at the expiration of the time 
named, as if to prove that the consequences threatened in the event 
of his refusal could have been performed, x 

In 1716, Epworth Rectory was the scene of those mysterious 
rappings and other noises of which a separate account is given in 
Appendix D. Beaumont, in his Gleanings of Antiquities (1724) refers 
to a house in London where for three years there had been continual 
knockings against the wainscot overhead, and were still continued 
at the time he wrote. The person who rented the house told him 
that on her removing eighteen miles from London the knocking 
still followed her. Mysterious flashes of light were also seen. In 
1732, a young woman of Thoulouse, is related to have been haunted 
by a Spirit. Being prevailed on to speak to it, she asked if it was 
a man ? To which it responded a knock under the table. And on 
asking whether it was a marquis, a count, a baron, or a knight ? 
It knocked again at the latter word. Here then was an opening 
of Spirit-communication by sound signals more than a century before 
the advent of so-called “ Spirit-rapping.” 

Mr. Spicee, in his Sights and Sounds , tells us that:—“About 
1742, a house at Dumfries, on theJNith, was the scene of various 
extraordinary manifestations. The place was inhabited by a highly 
respectable gentleman, a magistrate of Dumfries, whose family were 
perpetually annoyed by knockings and drummings in all parts of 

Y 2 


324 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


the house, as though some powerful hand had been exercising a 
heavy mallet on the partitions and floors. Although these noises were 
so loud as to be distinctly heard by the labourers in the neighbour¬ 
ing fields, no clue to their origin was ever discovered. Tenant after 
tenant occupied the house, but the invisible rapper continued among 
the ‘fixtures,’ and for many years the spot was popularly known 
as ‘ Knock-a-big’s Close,’ from the name bestowed upon the sup¬ 
posed spirit.” 

The same writer informs us that the New York Packet, a small 
commercial paper, published in its issue of March 10th, 1789, the 
following curious communication:— 

“ I'isli Hill, March 3rd, 1789. 

“ Sir,—Were I to relate the many extraordinary, though not less 
true accounts I have heard concerning that unfortunate girl, at New 
Hackensack, your belief might perhaps be staggered, and patience 
tired. I shall therefore only inform you of what I have been an 
eye-witness to. Last Sunday afternoon my wife and myself went to 
Dr. Thorn’s, and after sitting for some time we heard a knock under 
the feet of a young woman that lives in the family. I asked the 
Doctor what occasioned the noise—he could not tell, but replied, 
that he, together with several others, had examined the house, but 
were unable to discover the cause. I then took a candle, and went 
with the girl to the cellar; there the knocking also continued: but 
as we were ascending the stairs to return, I heard a prodigious 
rapping on each side, which alarmed me very much. I stood still 
some time, looking around with amazement, when I beheld some 
lumber which lay at the head of the stairs shake considerably. 
About eight or ten days after we visited the girl again; the knock¬ 
ing still continued, but was much louder. Our curiosity induced us to 
pay the third visit, when the phenomena were still more alarming. 
I then saw the chairs move; a large dining-table was thrown against 
me, and a small stand, on which stood a candle, was tossed up and 
thrown in my wife’s lap; after which we left the house much sur¬ 
prised at what we had seen.” 

In the Life of Frederica Hauffe, the Seer ess of Prevorst, by Dr. 
Justinus Keener, chief physician at Weinsberg, almost every phase 
of spiritual phenomena is related as pertaining to her experience. 
Many Spirits appeared to her : among others, “ As she was kneeling 
one morning about nine o’clock, (in prayer,) there appeared before 
her a short figure, with a dark cowl, and an old-looking wrinkled 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


325 


face; the head hung forwards, and it looked for some minutes 
steadfastly on her, as she did on it.’* The Spirit appeared again 
before her as she was praying another day,” and “ for a whole year 
from that time” this Spirit appeared to her daily, and begged her to 
pray with him. “ His appearance was always preceded by knockings 
on the walls, noises in the air, and other sounds, which were heard 
by many different people, as can be testified by more than twenty 
credible witnesses. There was a tramping up and down stairs by 
day and night to be heard, but no one to be seen, as well as knock¬ 
ings on the walls and in the cellars ; but, however suddenly a person 
flew to the place to try and detect whence the noise proceeded, they 
could see nothing. If they went outside, the knocking was imme¬ 
diately heard inside, and vice versa. However securely they closed 
the kitchen door—nay, if they tied it with cords—it was found open 
in the morning; and though they frequently rushed to the spot on 

hearing it open or shut, they never could find anybody.The 

noises in the house became at length so remarkable, that her father 
declared he could stay in it no longer; and that they were not only 
audible to everybody in it, but to the passengers in the street, who 

stopped to listen to them as they passed. Mrs. H- said in her 

sleep, that the evil spirits wished to impede the one with whom she 
prayed, that he might not sever himself from them.” 

The same book contains an account of similar occurrences which 
took place in 1806, at Slawensick Castle, Silesia. Councillor Hahn, 
in the service of Prince Hohenlohe, had gone to Slawensick, and 
with an old friend, a military officer named Kern, had taken up his 
abode in the castle. “Hahn, during his collegiate life, had been 
much given to philosophy—had listened to Fichte, and earnestly 
studied the writings of Kant. The result of his reflections, at this 
time, was a pure materialism.” He had been reading aloud to his 
friends the works of Schiller, when his reading was interrupted by a 
small shower of lime which fell around them; this was followed by 
larger pieces, but they searched in vain to discover any part of the 
walls or ceiling from which it could have fallen. The next evening, 
instead of the lime falling, as before, it was thrown, and several 
pieces struck Hahn; at the same time they heard many blows, 
sometimes below, and sometimes over their heads, like the sound 
of distant guns. On the following evening a noise was added which 
resembled the faint and distant beating of a drum. On going to bed 
with a light burning they heard what seemed like a person walking 



326 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


about tbe room with slippers on, and a stick 'with which he struck 
the floor as he moved step by step. The friends continued to laugh 
and jest at the oddness of these circumstances till they fell asleep. 
Neither being in the least inclined to attribute them to any super¬ 
natural cause. “ But on the following evening the affair became 
more inexplicable: various articles in the room were thrown about—• 
knives, forks, brushes, caps, slippers, padlocks, funnel, snuffers, 
soap—everything, in short, that was moveable; whilst lights darted 
from corner to corner, and everything was in confusion; at the same 
time the lime fell and the blows continued. Upon this the two 
friends called up the servant, Knittel, the castle watch, and whoever 
else was at hand, to be witnesses of these mysterious operations. 
Frequently before their eyes the knives and snuffers rose from the 
table and fell, after some minutes, to the ground.” So constant and 
varied were - the annoyances, that they resolved on removing to the 
rooms above. But this did not mend the matter; “ the thumping 
continued as before; and not only so, but articles flew about the 
room which they were quite sure they had left below.” Kern saw a 
figure in the mirror interposing apparently between the glass and 
himself, the eyes of the figure moving and looking into his. 

It is unnecessary to recount the means employed to trace out 
these mysteries. Hahn and Kern, assisted by two Bavarian officers. 
Captain Cornet, and Lieutenant Magerle, and all the aid they could 
assemble, were wholly unsuccessful in obtaining the slightest clue. 
And Hahn, from whose narrative this account is taken, declares:— 
“ I have described these events exactly as I saw them; from begin¬ 
ning to end I observed them with the most entire self-possession. 
I had no fear, nor the slightest tendency to it; yet the whole thing 
remains to me perfectly inexplicable.” 

M. Morin, as quoted by Count Gasparin, relates that: “An 
old soldier, a revolutionary hero, furiously incredulous, at five 
different times in his life, and always on the night preceding a 
catastrophe in his family, was warned of it by three distinct blows at 
the head of his bed.” 

In 1834, an unaccountable ringing of bells, without any visible 
agency, occurred at the house of Major Moor, at Great Bealings, 
Suffolk, they continued almost every day for fifty-three days. The 
strictest scrutiny failed to discover any cause for it. He published’ a 
little work called Bealings Bells, in which he gave a f ull account of 
the affair. He received in consequence a mass of correspondence 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


327 


detailing similar occurrences, confirmed by clergymen and other 
persons of education and position. In many cases, besides the 
ringings, were other disturbances. One gentleman told him that 
his father, unable to trace any cause for the bells ringing in his 
house, he fixed a bell without wire to a wall and it rang, and the 
piano in the parlour began to play of itself. The Bev. Mr. Stewart, 
Incumbent of Lyderstone, Norfolk, wrote to Major Moor that he had 
had tappings, scratchings, groanings, heavy trampings, thundering 
knocks, &c., in all the rooms and passages in his house for nearly 
wine years , that they still continued, and that he was able clearly to 
trace their existence in the parsonage sixty years past. 

In the well-known case of the haunted house at Willington, of 
which an account is given in Mrs. Crowe’s Night Side of Nature, the 
ghostly presence was sometimes accompanied by rappings, and at 
others, by heavy poundings, as of a pavior’s rammer. In 1841, Dr. 
Clanny, of Sunderland, published an account of the remarkable case 
of Mary Jobson, in which mysterious knockings were combined with 
nearly every other phase of the phenomena of mediumship. The late 
Cure d’Ars was a medium for manifestations of the most wonderful 
kind; one of the least of which was that for thirty-five years he was 
surrounded by this knocking, and other noises, in all parts of his 
house, both the interior and exterior. They were often as loud as 
if made with a huge club. Sometimes his furniture resounded as if 
with a storm of blows. One night, when there was a heavy snow-fall, 
loud blows were heard on the front-door, but on his instantly opening 
it, no foot-marks could be seen. Despite repeated and most vigilant 
watch and ward, no trace of any agent could be discovered. 

I might further refer to the disturbances at the Parsonage of Cid- 
ville, as related by M. de Mirville, an eye-witness, and to a number 
of instances in France, given by M. Pierart in the Revue Spiri¬ 
tualists, with all the references to places and persons, but I will only 
add another instance; which, with the preceding, brings us down to 
about the date usually assigned as that of the commencement of 
“ Spirit-rapping.” 

In 1835, a suit (which lasted two years) was brought before the 
Sheriff* of Edinburgh, in which Captain Molesworth was defendant, 
and the landlord of the house he inhabited (which was at Trinity, 
about a couple of miles from Edinburgh) was plaintiff. Mrs. Crowe, 
to whom I am indebted for the narrative, says:—“ I have been 
favoured with the particulars of the case by Mr. M. L-, the 


328 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


advocate employed by the plaintiff, who spent many hours in exam¬ 
ining the numerous witnesses, several of whom were officers of the 
army, and gentlemen of undoubted honour and capacity for obser¬ 
vation.” 

“ Captain Moles worth took the house of a Mr. Webster, who re¬ 
sided in the adjoining one, in May or June, 1835; and when he 
had been in it about two months, he began to complain of sundry 
extraordinary noises, which, finding it impossible to account for, 
he took it into his head, strangely enough, were made by Mr. 
Webster. The latter naturally represented that it was not probable 
he should desire to damage the reputation of his own house, or 
drive his tenant out of it, and retorted the accusation. Still, as 
these noises and knockings continued, Captain M. not only lifted 
the boards in the room most infected, but actually made holes in 
the wall which divided his residence from Mr. W’s., for the purpose 
of detecting the delinquent—of course without success. Do what 
they would, the thing went on just the same : footsteps of invisible 
feet, knockings, and scratchings, and rustlings, first on one side, and 
then on the other, were heard daily and nightly. Sometimes this 
unseen agent seemed to be knocking to a certain tune, and if a ques¬ 
tion were addressed to it which could be answered numerically, as, 
‘ How many people are there in this room ?’ for example, it would 
answer by so many knocks. The beds, too, were occasionally heaved 
up, as if somebody were underneath, and where the knockings were, 
the walls trembled visibly, but, search as they would, no one could 
be found. Captain Molesworth had two daughters, one of whom, 
named Matilda, had lately died; the other, a girl between twelve 
and thirteen, called Jane, was sickly, and generally kept her bed; 
and, as it was observed that wherever she was, these noises most 
frequently prevailed, Mr. Webster, who did not like the malafama 
that was attaching itself to his house, declared that she made them, 
whilst the people in the neighbourhood believed that it was the 
ghost of Matilda warning her sister that she was to follow. Sheriffs’ 
officers, masons, justices of peace, and the officers of the regiment 
quartered at Leith, who were friends of Captain M., all came to his 
aid, in hopes of detecting or frightening away his tormentor, but 
in vain. Sometimes it was said to be a trick of somebody outside 
the house, and then they formed a cordon round it; and next, as 
the poor sick girl was suspected, they tied her up in a bag, but it was 
all to no purpose. 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


329 


“At length, ill and wearied out by the annoyances and anxieties 
attending the affair, Captain M. quitted the house, and Mr. W. 
brought an action against him for the damages committed by lifting 
the boards, breaking the walls, and firing at the wainscot, as well as 
for the injury done to the house by saying it was haunted, which 
prevented other tenants taking it. 

“ The poor young lady died, hastened out of the world, it is said, 
by the severe measures used whilst she was under suspicion; and 
the persons that have since inhabited the house have experienced no 
repetition of the annoyance.” 

In most of the foregoing instances the rappings and various 
souuds occurred in a way, and in connection with other phenomena 
indicating their production by intelligent, though invisible agency; 
—by beings who could respond to questions, count numbers, ring 
bells, and imitate tunes—the beating of a* drum, and other sounds, 
sometimes made purposely to test the intelligence of the unseen 
operators : and, in all probability, had proper means been employed, 
in every case intelligence would have been thus manifested, and in 
a higher degree; and the various methods of continuous spiritual 
intercourse now in vogue might thus have been anticipated at an 
earlier period. 

These other phenomena referred to, as well as the rappings, are in 
character identical with the physical manifestations of spiritual power 
with which we are now familiar. I might have brought these out 
more prominently, but my object has been rather to bring into 
bolder relief that phase of the subject which is commonly thought 
the peculiar characteristic of recent Spiritualism. I do not here 
enter into any consideration of the inquiries and objections usually 
raised in regard to the assumed spiritual character of these pheno¬ 
mena, as I have discussed these at some length in a former work— 
The Confessions of a Truth-Seeker, to which, and to Adin Ballou’s 
Spirit-Manifestations , and other works of a kindred nature, I must, 
on these points, refer the reader. 

I have here purposely overlooked a noted instance of “ Spirit- 
rapping ” at the close of the last century, but a full, true, and par¬ 
ticular account of the Cock Lane Ghost will be found in Appendix 
E. 

It may be thought that in bringing these relations together, I have 
taken needless pains to establish a very unimportant point; and the 
conclusion would be quite right were it my object simply to show 


330 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


that “Spirit-rapping” is not quite so modern as it is generally 
thought to be. But those who, in ignorance of the mass of well- 
attested modern fact, are disposed to reject the whole as imposture, 
have to account for the fact, that at intervals, for centuries past, 
such things are related by honest and learned men to have occurred 
at many places, to persons of various condition, and under circum¬ 
stances of very different kinds. That these things, and the like of 
them, are personally offensive to many people cannot be helped. 
We do not make facts by simply recognizing them, nor can we 
destroy them by the easy process of shutting our eyes to their exis¬ 
tence. As evidence of spirit-existence we may not ourselves need 
them, but let us remember with honest Baxter that “Many can 
apprehend these arguments from sense, who cannot yet reach, and 
will not be convinced by other demonstration.” Moreover, these 
facts are but as it were the base of an ascending scale of phenomena 
and facts, from which laws and principles of the highest value may 
be deduced if we study them aright. But a corner and the dunce’s 
cap for the blockhead, who too conceited to learn himself, does his 
best, or rather, his worst, to persuade others to remain in the same 
fool’s paradise with himself. 

Note.—W hile these sheets were passing through the press, M. 
Joller, a well-known lawyer of Lucerne, and a member of the Swiss 
National Council, has published a small work of ninety-one pages, 
giving an account of supernatural disturbances in his own patri¬ 
monial house at Stans, of a more violent and extraordinary character 
than perhaps any of the kind on record; and which continued from 
the autumn of 1860 to 1862; until, indeed, M. Joller and his family 
were compelled by these unpitying jpolter-geister to abandon their 
hereditary home. These disturbances began with rappings on the 
bedstead of a servant-maid, but soon the knockings came all over 
the house, and at all hours, day and night, and often with such 
force that the very wainscot was seen to bend beneath the blows. 
One night Madame Joller and her daughter were wakened by loud 
rappings on the table in their bed-room. On demanding if it were 
any living agent, that it should rap again, it did so promptly. 
Windows, doors, and cupboards, were violently flung open; locks, 
bolts, and bars, were tried in vain; no sooner were doors and win¬ 
dows fastened than they would be thrown open, and those standing 
open would be as suddenly closed. The humming of spinning- 



SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


331 


wheels was heard, furniture was moved about, articles were con¬ 
veyed from one part of the house to another, and at times, every¬ 
thing in the house was thrown into the wildest confusion. Voices 
were heard, and occasionally music accompanied with singing in a 
melancholy tone. Showers of stones would fall in the rooms where 
the family were, though they did not seem to have hurt any of 
them. Glasses, bottles, and earthenware rang as if struck with a 
metallic instrument. Both the family and a neighbour saw on the 
house-floor, drawn with all the distinctness of an engraving, a 
snow-white figure with a death’s head, which they watched for 
some time, till it faded quite out. The Spirits at length boldly 
showed themselves openly, and were seen by different people. M. 
Joller not only felt a soft stroking on the forefinger of his left hand, 
but he on one occasion seized a hand of one of the Spirits. He 
found it soft, solid, and warm as a living hand, and felt distinctly 
the thumb and fingers, which soon, however, drew themselves 
away. 

There was nothing apparently in the Joller family to predispose 
them to any belief in the supernatural. “ In our abode,” says M. 
Joller, “superstition was, as it ever had been, a rejected thing; and 
I may assert that scarcely any family had been brought up with so 
little fear of ghosts as mine. I must, therefore, call it the irony 
of Fate, that such unaccountable appearances should present them¬ 
selves where they were sure to encounter the most positive incredu- 
iity.” 

M. Joller himself was an instance of this incredulity. Like Sir 
David Brewster, “Spirits” were “the last thing” he “would give 
into.” At first it was all “imagination.” Then “cats,” “rats,” “a 
bird in the attics,” “ a cracking of the wood,” “ the giving way of a 
joint,” &c, were severally the cause. The children he threatened 
with the rod if he heard from them any more “ such nonsense;” and 
he read to the family a chapter from Zschokke “ On the Power of 
Superstition;” which was brought to an untimely end by a loud 
pounding on the room door, and a triumphant inquiry from the 
children—“ Is that a rat then?” M. Joller, born in the house, and 
familiar with every hand-breadth of it, carefully searched it, as did 
others, from roof to cellar, and took nothing by his motion; nor did 
the bewildered man receive any light from his notes of Professor 
Sieber’s college lectures on experimental physics, which, in his 
perplexity, he consulted. The maid-servant was dismissed, but not 


332 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


so the disturbances, which ceased only when the whole family left 
the house. Once, as the knocking was going on briskly on the 
wall, M. Joller, pretending it must be a rat, struck some heavy 
blows on the wall to frighten the rat away. To his astonishment, 
the blows were returned with equal vigour, and in equal number. 
Another time, the knockings being on a door, he opened it, and held 
it fast in his hands, when the knocks were given on each side at 
once. On another occasion he stood with a chamber door ajar, and 
suddenly pulling it open as the first knock fell on it, saw a dark 
figure outside; but before he could spring forward, his wife and 
daughter simultaneously cried out that they saw a brown bony arm 
at the moment withdrawn from the door. They did this so com¬ 
pletely together, that he was convinced that each saw the same 
thing. 

M. Joller declares he could cite a long catalogue of witnesses of 
these things, but that the case is too notorious to need it. It was, 
indeed, not only the talk of his little canton, but of all Switzer¬ 
land. To keep the matter quiet was out of the question; thousands 
came, and the manifestations went on before them in full force and 
variety. The house was literally invaded. Shut out at the doors, 
people clambered in at the windows. Among others who came and 
investigated, were M. Obermatt, President of the Court of Justice, 
Judge Schalberger, Chancellor Zimmermann, Police Director Jann, 
Dr. Jose Deschwarden, Dr. Christen, the Land-Captain Zelger, 
Father Guardian, and the Episcopal Commissary ISTiederberger. 
They all went away as much puzzled as other learned and scientific 
men have been in like circumstances. 

Those who may wish for a more circumstantial narrative of this 
extraordinary case, of which I have selected only a few of the more 
salient points, if they have not access to M. Joller’s book, will find 
a good account of it in an article by William Howitt, in the Spiritual 
Magazine, No. 1, Yol. v. I quote its concluding paragraph, which 
sets forth very clearly what seems to be the rationale of the affair:— 

“The most striking feature of M. Joller’s case is the entire ig¬ 
norance of the nature of haunting spirits both by M. Joller, the 
police, and the clergy of the neighbourhood of Lucerne. Father 
Guardian blessed the house; but there seems to have been no further 
attempt to expel the troublesome spirits by prayer and exorcism. 
If the clergy were ignorant on this subject, still less knowledge was 
to be expected from the police. As for M. Joller, evidently a Catholic 


SOUNDS AND SIGHTS. 


333 


by faith, he seems to have had no idea whatever of getting rid of his 
persecutors by prayers and earnest appeal to the God of all spirits. 
A worthy man, he goes on suffering both from the spirits of the 
house, the spirits of the Press, and the spirits of the public, and 
is actually driven from his home and natal property, without an idea 
that these troublesome guests might have been sent away instead. 
It is a fine example of the mischiefs of neglecting to study the 
mysteries of spirit-life, as revealed by such a host of modern in¬ 
stances. These were evidently unhappy Spirits seeking aid from the 
first mediums they could meet with. They found these in M. Joller’s 
house; but they were mediums without that knowledge which me¬ 
diums instructed by Spiritualism possess. These unhappy souls 
were repeatedly heard sobbing and groaning, and exclaiming, “Hr- 
barmet euch meiner!” (“Have pity on me!”) They wanted the 
prayers and good offices of M. Joller and his family, and failing 
to find them, failing to make them comprehend this, they grew 
desperate; the worst instead of the best feelings of their natures 
were excited, and in their rage at being able to make these mediums 
perceive but not to understand them, they grew to resemble fiends 
in their wild passions rather than miserable suppliants. The conse¬ 
quence was, that, instead of being soothed by sympathy and raised 
and refined by prayer, instead of being thus gently dismissed on an 
upward course, as the Seeress of Prevorst often dismissed such,. M. 
Joller was most unnecessarily driven in distress from his own long¬ 
loved hearth. M. Joller, with all his worth and secular knowledge, 
is, in fact, the exile and victim of ignorance—and a standing warning 
to men of education to pay some little attention to the psychological 
facts that are daily rising around them. 

“ It is satisfactory to see that a learned professor of one of the Swiss 
Colleges has prefaced M. Joller’s pamphlet by an assertion of the 
truth and the real nature of these phenomena, and contends that it 
is the duty of psychology and natural science, not to ignore these 
frequent facts, but to throw fresh light on them by honest inquiry.” 



334 


MANIFOLD PHASES OP SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 

The gentle British public is constantly, from one source or 
another, hearing something about Spiritualism, or Spirit-rapping , 
as it is popularly designated. Mr. Dickens, in one of his pleasant 
Christmas numbers of All the Year Round, condescended to enlighten 
as well as enliven us by his portraiture of a Spiritualist; from which 
it appears that a Spiritualist is a “goggle-eyed gentleman,” who 
“ passes the night, as indeed he passes the whole of his time,” in 
listening to Spirit-rapping and noting down inquiries made in this 
■way by Socrates about his health, and how he likes travelling; and 
information from Galileo, that water will freeze when it is cold 
enough—and so forth. 

How, this is all very well in its way, and, perhaps, as a'piece 
of Christmas fun, to be taken with mince pies and roasted chesnuts, 
very seasonable; we laugh at it as we do at the pantomime, and are 
in no more danger of taking it for reality than we are the stage 
metamorphoses of distressed lovers into harlequin and columbine, 
or the sausage purloining propensities of wicked old pantaloon. But 
when Mr. Dickens, in his choice phraseology designates a Spiritualist 
as a “Rapper,” and would have us believe that both terms are sy¬ 
nonymous, he does but ignorantly echo the popular representation 
and belief upon this subject; Spiritualism and Spirit-rapping being 
in fact generally used as convertible terms. This view is however 
an erroneous one, and is calculated seriously to mislead. The term 
“ Spirit-rapping” expresses but one of the simplest of the varied 
phenomena of modern Spirit-manifestation; and its employ¬ 
ment to express these in their totality, is altogether inadequate 
and false, tending only to excite a low, meagre, and ridiculously 
erroneous conception of the whole subject. 

Having for some years past investigated these phenomena; and 
availed myself of the opportunities afforded me for personal observa¬ 
tion of them, under circumstances precluding all suspicion as to 
their genuineness, I think that, with a view to dispel the foolish 
notion referred to, it may be well to present a brief general statement 
of the leading phenomenal phases in which, at the present day. 


MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 335 

Spiritualism is presented to us. A particular and exhaustive 
enumeration of them would be tedious, and, perhaps, impossible. 

Before doing so, however, as a preliminary observation, necessary 
to a right understanding of the matter, it may be needful to remark 
that there are persons in some way peculiarly constituted, whose 
presence appears to furnish conditions requisite to enable Spirits to 
act upon matter, or to manifest their agency in any way cognizable 
to men. In what this peculiarity consists, whether it be chemical, 
electrical, magnetic, odylic, or in some combination of these, or in 
what else, it would lead me too far from my present purpose to 
consider. At present, I would only point out the fact that the pre¬ 
sence of one such person at least is necessary in every circle before 
any spiritual manifestation can be obtained. Such persons in past 
times have been variously called “ seers,” “ prophets,” “ revelators,” 
“inspired persons,” “gifted persons,” “instruments,” etc. They 
are now called Mediums. 

The most common form of the manifestations, and that which 
is generally most easily obtained, is seen in :— 

1 .—The Rappings, TabU-tippings, and other sounds and movements of 
ponderable bodies. The persons assembled place their hands lightly on 
a table, and, if a suitable medium is present, in a short time, sounds, 
like raps or detonations, are heard on the table, the chairs, the 
walls, or the floor, often varying in power and tone. I have heard 
them faint, as if made by the fingers of a young child; again, as if 
made by the knuckles of a strong man; and again, upon the floor, 
as if produced by a crutch: in the latter case, a lady present in¬ 
formed the circle that that was the mode in which the spirit of her 
grandfather signalled his presence to her; and that when living, 
he was in the habit of thumping his crutch upon the floor, producing 
just such sounds as were then heard. All present saw exactly the 
spot whence the noise came, though no crutch or other means of 
making the sound was visible. Again:—“ Sounds such as are oc¬ 
casioned by the prosecution of several mechanical and other occu¬ 
pations, are often heard; there are others which resemble the harsh 
voices of the winds and waves, with which occasionally harsh creak¬ 
ing sounds are mingled, similar to those produced by the masts and 
rigging of a ship while it is labouring in a rough sea. At times 
powerful concussions occur, not unlike distant thunder or the 
discharge of artillery, accompanied by an oscillatory movement of 
surrounding objects, and, in some instances, by a vibratory or tre- 


336 


MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 


mulous motion of the floor of the apartment, or it may be of the 
whole house wherein the phenomena occur At other times, in¬ 
stead of sounds being heard, extraordinary movements of the table 
are seen, it rising and falling vertically, or perpendicularly, and to 
different elevations off the floor, or sliding along the room first in 
one direction, and then in another, or moving rapidly round it. 
These phenomena, as I have said, usually take place with the hands 
of some or all of the persons present resting lightly on the table; 
this, however, is not always necessary, as, on more than one occa¬ 
sion, I, like many others, have seen the table rise from the floor 
without any contact, and respond by signals, or by the alphabet, 
to questions that have been put, and even beat time to an air that 
has been played, no one being nearer the table than from two to three 
feet of it. Human beings also have frequently been raised off the 
floor and floated round the room in the presence of numerous 
persons. 

That intelligent responses are obtained by these means is a 
hard nut for anti-spiritualists to crack; they might very plau¬ 
sibly allege that sounds and the movements of objects by no 
known natural agency, however strange, are not sufficient to 
satisfy a reasonable mind that there is any Spirit ab extra 
concerned in their production; but when these are made to 
serve as a code of signals by which questions are answered, 
intelligent communications given, and numbers indicated, and 
these often of a kind unthought of, and unexpected by all pre¬ 
sent;—then it seems evident that a more occult force is at work 
—an intelligent though invisible actor is demonstrated. Published 
and authenticated facts of this kind are before the world in abun¬ 
dance, and they may be multiplied to an extent to meet any 
reasonable requirement. 

2. Spirit-writings and Spirit-drawings .—The former of these modes 
of communication is not unfrequent. Usually, the medium holds 
a pencil in hand as for writing, and, sometimes immediately—some¬ 
times after a few minutes, the hand goes into involuntary motion, 
forming letters, words, and sentences, making an intelligent com¬ 
munication or reply to some question, verbal or mental, that has 
been asked. These communications are written sometimes slowly, 
at other times with almost inconceivable rapidity, and in various 

* A Memorial to the Honourable the Members of the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States, in Congress assembled. 


MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 


337 


handwriting, and sometimes in foreign languages. The name of a 
deceased friend or relative is frequently appended: sometimes the 
signature is given of an entire stranger. With some mediums the 
hand is simply used mechanically, the medium not having the 
slightest idea of what is being written; with others, this is accom¬ 
panied by impression as to the immediate word or sentence that is to 
be written, but no further. I know one medium who sees before him 
in the air, or upon the table, the word he has to write. Sometimes, 
instead of writing, the hand will go into drawing geometrical forms ; 
or fruits, flowers, figures, and symbolical representations will be 
thus produced. I know a lady, who had no knowledge or experience 
in drawing, but through whose band most exquisite flower and fruit 
pieces have been drawn; these, however, are not of a kind that the 
botanist would recognise; they purport to be drawings of spiritual 
fruits and flowers; and certainly they appear to accord with this 
representation* Cases of direct spirit-writing—that is, not re¬ 
quiring the intervention of a mortal hand, are comparatively rare. 
Baron Guldenstubbe, of Paris, has, however, furnished incontestable 
evidence that this direct spirit-writing, and in various languages, 
has been obtained f The Hon. Robert Dale Owen has obtained this 
direct spirit-writing on paper supplied and examined by himself, 
marked with his own crest, and written upon before his eyes, with¬ 
out the possibility of any one touching it. It has also been obtained 
in the presence of the Emperor and the Empress of the French. 

3. Trance and Trance Speaking.— Trance is a state of abnormal 
unconsciousness spiritually induced. In this state the trancee fre¬ 
quently speaks as from a Spirit—sometimes in long and sustained 
discourse, sometimes in a foreign or in an unknown tongue. 
I have scores of times heard persons of but little education 
discourse when in this state, with an amplitude of knowledge 
which I am sure they did not in themselves possess, and with 
a logical coherence and power of expression, of which in their normal 
state they were incapable; and this, too, under circumstances pre¬ 
cluding all possibility of premeditation, being in reply to questions 
by myself and friends upon topics of an abstruse or technical 
nature, and of which no previous intimation had been given, or 

* Those who wish for further particulars concerning these drawings, may Consult Wilkinson's 
Spirit-Drawings: a Personal Narrative. Chapman and Hall. 

t See Baron Guldenstubbk’s La realite des E sprits et les Phdnomines merveilleux de 
leur Ecriture directe demontrees. Paris, 1857. 


Z 


338 MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 

could have been conveyed; and the ideas so communicated being 
sometimes alike foreign to the mind of speaker and hearers. This 
state is similar, if not identical with that sometimes induced by Mes¬ 
merism. Indeed, Spirits aver that it is the result of spiritual mag¬ 
netisation, that there is a blending of the spiritual magnetism of 
operator and subject, and also a de- magnetising—a temporary re¬ 
moval of the magnetism of the body—a tearing down of the veil 
which hides the unseen, and that thus the spirit of the magnetizee 
is enabled to come into rapport with spiritual objects and beings. 
This leads me to notice— 

4. Clairvoyance and Clairaudience— It matters not what the 
opinions of clairvoyants and clairaudients may be in their normal 
condition; in these states, they, almost invariably, when their minds 
are not purposely otherwise directed, speak of seeing and hearing 
Spirits; they describe them, enter into conversation with them, 
frequently give medical prescriptions as from some deceased phy¬ 
sician whom they name, speak of seeing spiritual scenery, and, in 
short, they as to their spirits, seem to be intromitted into the spiritual 
world. Some remarkable instances of clairvoyance in illustration 
of Spiritualism will be found in Dr. Dixon’s Hygienic Clairvoyance , 
to which I would refer the reader. 

5. Luminous Phenomena—are sometimes seen at spiritual seances. 
They are usually described as very brilliant, sometimes they appear 
as stars, or as balls of fire, at other times they shoot meteor-like 
through the apartment, or gleam over the walls, or appear as 
luminous currents circling round a particular centre, such as the 
hand of the medium, the pencil with which he is writing, or some 
object in the room. 

In the before-quoted Memorial to the Congress of the United 
States of America, presented in April, 1854, and signed by thirteen 
thousand citizens, praying for the appointment of a Scien¬ 
tific Commission to inquire into the facts of Spiritualism; the 
memoralists state that among other phenomena,—“Lights of 
various forms and colours, and of different degrees of intensity, 
appear in dark rooms, where no substances exist which are 
liable to develope a chemical action or phosphorescent illumination, 
and in the absence of all the means and instruments whereby elec¬ 
tricity is generated, or combustion produced.” I have referred to 
some instances of this class of phenomena at page 320. 

6. Spiritual Impersonation, or the representation or reproduction 


MANIFOLD PHASES OP SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 


339 


in a medium of the actions, manner, gait, deportment, and other 
peculiarities which distinguished the actuating spirit in the earth- 
life. For instance, I have seen in an entire stranger, the peculiar 
disease, and the closing scenes of the mortal life of a spirit known 
to me, represented with painful fidelity. This peculiar kind of action, 
so far as I have observed, is exhibited only in the state of trance. 

7. Spirit-Music. —A musical instrument, say a harp, or an accor¬ 
dion, being held or suspended in the, hand of the medium, or of 
some person near him, tunes are sometimes played on it by invisible 
agency, often in a very superior manner—sometimes it will be a 
known and familiar tune—at other times spirit-music will be thus 
improvised. Robert Bell, in the Cornhill Magazine , Dr. Wilkinson, 
and many others have borne witness to facts of this class. 

I know persons, who often, when alone, unexpectedly, hear 
delightful music—apparently in the air, resembling and yet unlike 
any other they have heard. In the obituaries of eminently religious 
persons, I have seen the same fact recordedof them. In the Memorial 
to Congress I have referred to, it is stated that, “ harmonic sounds 
are heard, as of human voices, but more frequently resembling the 
tones of various musical instruments, among which, those of the 
fife, drum, trumpet, guitar, harp, and piano, have been mysteriously 
and successfully represented, both with and without the instru¬ 
ments, and in either case, without any apparent human or other 
visible agency .” 

8. Visible and Tactual Manifestations, such as the appearance and 
touch of Spirit-hands. Some striking instances of this kind attested 
by Dr. Wilkinson, in a letter to the Morning Advertiser, are published 
in Mr. Home’s Incidents in My Life. A published lecture by Mr. 
Rymer on Spirit Manifestations records the same facts, which are 
further corroborated by other witnesses; I may also refer to the 
testimony of Mr. Robert Bell, in the Cornhill Magazine, confirmed 
by Dr. Gully of Malvern, in a letter to the Morning Star; and to the 
experience of Mr. William Howitt, published in his History of the 
Supernatural, and in his letter to the Rev. Granvil Forbes, given 
by that gentleman in the Appendix to the second edition of his 
No Antecedent Impossibility in Miracles. 

9. Spirit-intercourse by means of the Mirror, Crystal, and Vessel of 
Water. —A mode of communication which, though not very preva¬ 
lent, deserves to be named, if only for its antiquity. The most 
voluminous account extant of this mode of intercourse is given by 


340 


MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 


the learned Dr. Dee, in a scarce folio, published 1659, entitled, A True 
and Faithful relation of what passed for many years between Dr. John 
Dee and some Spirits. In the library of the British Museum is an 
unpublished MS. in five volumes, formerly belonging to Sir Hans 
Sloane. It is described as Journals of Magical Processes, Appearances of 
Angels, Spirits, 8fc., and Conferences with them, from July 24, 1671, to 
December 18,1688. (The press mark is 102 d.) I am myself acquainted 
with a gentleman who has upwards of twenty manuscript volumes 
of communications, chiefly on moral and religious subjects, received 
in this way. 

To these modes of spiritual manifestations, I may add such well- 
known phenomena as— 

10. Apparitions of the Departed. —Attested as they are by a mass 
of evidence, which in its aggregate appears incontrovertible; while 
all the laboured efforts to account for them on any theory which ex¬ 
cludes their spiritual reality, in my judgment suffer under this 
capital defect, that they are inadequate to meet the world-wide facts 
by which such theories are confronted. 

11. Visions and Previsions. —That men have had visions of the 
spiritual world, and of spiritual things, I suppose no Christian will 
deny, as many instances of the kind are related both in the Old and 
Hew Testament; and I see no warrant either in Scripture or reason, 
to believe that they have ceased. Many cases of spiritual vision are 
recorded in the lives of pious men, of the truth of which we have no 
reason to doubt. Human nature is the same now as in the olden 
tjme; men are subject to the same physical and psychical laws now 
as then v and if subject to the same conditions, why should not the 
same results follow ? Why may we not believe that the spiritual 
sight of Swedenborg was opened as well as that of the prophet’s 
servant ? Why may we not believe in the spiritual visions of Col. 
Gardiner or of Judge Edmonds, as well as in those of Balaam, the 
hireling prophet? My object now, however, is not to argue the 
fact of spiritual vision, but to instance it as one of the modes of 
Spirit-manifestation. 

12. Dreams. —Of course I do not mean that all dreams, nor even 
that all dreams of a spiritual kind, are to be regarded as verities, or 
as communications from the unseen world, but simply that commu¬ 
nications .from thence are sometimes made to us by this means—that 
facts and truths are sometimes revealed to people in dream which 
cannot rationally be accounted for on any other hypothesis. 


MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 


341 


13. Presentiments. —True, people may mistake their own fancies 
for presentiments, but often the presentiment is too clear and defi¬ 
nite, and its correspondence to the event too exact to admit of such 
explanation, and, in the lives of some persons, too frequent to allow 
of their being regarded as unconnected coincidence. This phase of 
the subject, it is obvious, is closely allied to— 

14. Spirit Influx. —By which feelings ideas and sentiments are in¬ 
fused into the mind. Of all modes of spiritual intercourse, this is 
probably the most universal and the least understood. Swedenborg 
has written on this more fully and to the point than any author 
whom I know, and to him I must%*efer the reader who is desirous 
of a further exposition of this branch of the subject—the largest 
of all, the most central, perhaps, even comprising all the others; 
at all events it is immediately connected with the deepest things 
of the soul, and of its union with the spiritual world. 

15. Involuntary Utterance , and Speaking in Many Tongues. —These 
are not the least noteworthy of the modes and evidences of Spirit- 
intercourse. They are not confined to the trance state, or to modern 
mediums; and both the kind and quality of the utterance often 
transcend the normal capacity of the speaker. In the history of the 
Camisars, in the preaching epidemic in Sweden, and in the late 
Ulster Revival, children and people unable to read, under spiritual 
influence have prayed, preached, and quoted Scripture with an elo¬ 
quence and power and felicity of expression which amazed all who 
heard them. In Mr. Irving’s Church, “ the utterances” were some¬ 
times in foreign languages, as well as in the unknown tongue. This, 
as we have seen, was called by them, “ speaking in the power,” and 
its supernatural character was avowed. 

In a letter to the New York Tribune , July, 1859, Judge Edmonds, 
after adverting to some instances of persons under spiritual influ¬ 
ence speaking in an unknown, but “ what seemed to be a well- 
organised language;” gives the names and addresses of thirty-five 
mediums who “have spoken (known) languages with which they were 
previously unacquainted; . . . . occurring in the presence of hun¬ 
dreds of witnesses, testified to under circumstances which preclude 
all idea of collusion, and establishing the fact as conclusively as 
human testimony can do so.” Among others, he tells us:—“ My 
daughter, who knows only English and French, has spoken in 
French, Greek, Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian, and 
several dialects of the Indian, and sometimes not understanding 


342 MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 

what she said, though it was understood by the auditor to whom it 
was addressed.” 

In his Saints Everlasting Best , Baxter remarks :— " Who can give 
any natural cause of men’s speaking Hebrew or Greek, which they 
never learned or spake before; of their versifying; their telling per¬ 
sons that are present their secrets; discovering what is done at a 
distance, which they neither see nor hear? Fernelius mentioneth 
two that he saw; whereof one was so tormented with convulsive 
pain, sometimes in one arm, sometimes in the other, sometimes in 
one finger, &c., that four men could scarcely hold him, his head 
being still quiet and well. The physician judged it a convulsion, 
from some malignant humour in the sjnna dorsi; till, having used 
all means in vain, at last the devil derided them, that they had 
almost destroyed the man by their medicines. The man spoke 
Greek and Latin, which he never learned; he told the physicians 
a great many of their secrets.” &c. 

Colquohon, in his Isis Bevelata , remarks:—“ Many authors have 
noticed this phenomenon of speaking a language unknown to the 
individual in his ordinary state; and it will very frequently be 
found coupled with the prophetic faculty, as arising out of the same 
or similar conditions. Among these authors, passing over the 
ancients, I may mention Pomponatius, Lemnius, Gainerius, Ficinus, 
Forestus, &c. Pomponatius (Lib. de Incant. c. 4J refers to the story 
of the wife of Francis Magresi, who in an access of melancholy, spoke 
in various languages, and when cured by medical treatment, lost all 
knowledge of these tongues. The author of the Chiliads (in Declam, 
pro Laudibus Medic.) mentions the case of an Italian, who, in a fit of 
mental aberration, (novo ex vnemibus furoris genere correptus) , spoke 
good German, a language previously unknown to him when in health, 
and which he again forgot when cured of his disease. Gainerius 
(Ex Gentile in Quest, de Incantatione) relates several instances of 
persons, male and female, who spoke languages which they had not 
previously known.” 

Colquohon proceeds to quote other instances from Lemnius, Morhof, 
La Motte le Yayer, Charron, Yalesius, Huarte, Sennertus, &c. 

16. Possession— There is reason to believe that many persons 
treated as insane are only so in the same sense as were the de¬ 
moniacs of old. We have the high authority of Esquirol for 
believing that there are cases of possession even now; and Dr. 
Wilkinson, convinced of the same fact, has published A Proposal 


MANIFOLD PHASES OF SPIRITUAL AGENCY. 


343 


to treat Lunacy by Spiritualism, as a curative agency. Judge 
Edmonds, of America, writes:—“ I know something of the disease of 
insanity. My professional and judicial life has compelled me to 
study it, and I have communed with several who died insane; and I 
am convinced that there are no means known among men that can 
do so much to cure and eradicate the disease as spiritual intercourse 
well understood and wisely guided. How long it will be before those 
whose speciality the disease is, will have the good sense to look into 
it, instead of condemning it without inquiry and without knowledge, 
time must determine.” 

The foregoing catalogue raisonnee of some of the various modes of 
Spirit-manifestation, as I have before intimated, is by no means an 
exhaustive one; but I trust it may satisfy the reader that the ques¬ 
tion is of a large and comprehensive character. It is not one of our 
own time alone; its roots lie deep in history and in human nature, 
and it branches naturally into some of the deepest questions in 
science, philosophy, and theology; but into this, as well as into the 
evidence in proof of the reality of present spiritual manifestations, 
I must here forbear to enter; but I would ask my readers to suspend 
their judgment till they have made themselves acquainted with the 
evidence, and not to trust newspaper critics, who, in general, present 
only a sort of Brocken-spectre—an enlarged image of the public 
opinion they reflect. Hence it is the custom of the Press (with but 
rare exceptions) totally and systematically to ignore all facts and 
evidence favourable to Spiritualism, while it prominently brings 
forward any statements or representations which may place it in an 
unfavourable light. The suppressio veri, and th e suggestio falsi, are 
tools which it seems to be too often thought no editor’s kit can be 
considered complete without. More frequently, however, misrepre¬ 
sentations on this matter arise, I believe, from sheer crass ignorance 
about it. 

The reader will also understand that this is no manifesto of a 
Spiritualist’s creed, but rather, is a list of some of the observed 
facts of Spirit-manifestation. These facts are each and all only 
the portals to a true spiritual reading of the soul and the universe 
of God; they may well arrest our more serious thought; yet, even 
the full acceptance of them as facts, will not, in the highest sense, 
make a man a Spiritualist, but they will enlarge his knowledge, and 
make him more open to receive the holy inner teaching of his soul, 


344 


TEACHINGS. 


when he allows it to be spoken to by the kingdom of God which is 
within him. True Spiritualism is God in the soul. 

It is remarked in the Westminster Review , that—“ In all regions of 
speculation we see men beginning with the highest and most in¬ 
soluble problems, and gradually lowering their ambition, till, having 
painfully secured a stable position on the lower ground, they once 
more raise their aims to the highest.” The outward manifestations 
of Spiritualism are but the starting point of the inquiry, not its 
goal. They fully secure that “ stable position on the lower ground,” 
from which earnest seekers after truth may “ once more raise their 
aims to the highest.” 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

TEACHINGS. 


“What are we to understand by the teachings of Spiritualism?” 
asks the Rev. H. Weller, in a religious publication called The Crisis. 
A very pertinent question. One which every man, every Spiritualist 
in particular, should well consider. We are all deeply concerned in 
it, and the sooner we are alive to that fact, the better. If any who 
believe or know that Spiritualism is true, suppose its purpose is to 
dissipate ennui, and furnish amusement for idle hours, they must be 
even more foolish than they are charged with being. The clever 
people, who treat Spiritualism as a funny subject, a fit theme for 
jokes and caricature-cartoons, may be excused, for they know not 
what they do, and are “ ignorant of their ignorance;” but all who 
recognize Spiritualism as a serious verity should be anxious to learn 
whither it tends, and what are the lessons it teaches. To answer 
this question in all its length and height and breadth, would require 
a fulness of knowledge and depth of insight not hitherto attained; 
and, for myself, though it has occupied much of my earnest thought, 
this has only the more convinced me how inadequate must be any 
answer to it that I can furnish. Even the study of a life-time, it is 
certain, would still leave the inquirer with little more than a few 
pebbles gathered upon its beach, and the vast and exhaustless ocean 
of its truths, principles, and laws, would still lie before him un¬ 
explored. 



TEACHINGS. 


345 


In spiritual, as in natural science, we must ever be on our guard 
against premature theories and hasty generalizations. The best 
views we can herein attain should still be held only as provisional, 
partial truth, perhaps, but not the rounded and absolute truth, to 
which a higher light and a consummate and perfect knowledge of the 
subject would conduct us. 

Next to the attainment of truth, the most important thing in this, 
or any inquiry, is the avoidance of error, and if in our investigation 
some misapprehensions can be cleared away, and some prejudices 
removed, a great step will have been gained. In rooting out these 
rank weeds, the soil becomes better fitted for the growth of healthful 
vegetation and floral loveliness. If our present knowledge of Spiri- 
ualism and its teachings is comparatively small, and we have, therefore, 
to speak with diffidence on many most interesting points in relation 
to it; we may at least with considerable confidence affirm what those 
teachings are not. It is of some use to tell people which is certainly 
the wrong road, even though we may not be able to direct them very 
far on their journey in the right direction. I, of course, assume the 
truth of the phenomena of Spiritualism: the question, in my under¬ 
standing of it, would be meaningless on any other hypothesis. If 
Spiritualism be simply a bundle of delusions ; if, as a fact, it has no 
existence, we need not trouble ourselves about its teachings. 

First, then, we must be careful to distinguish between the teach¬ 
ings of Spiritualism, and the teachings of Spiritualists , which latter 
is only another name for a creed. This distinction should be as 
obvious as its confusion is common, and not more common than 
hurtful. Beyond the common acknowledgment that Spirits have 
always held, and do still hold intercourse with men in the natural 
world, there is among Spiritualists but little necessary agreement; 
not but that, in my judgment, at least, this truth involves many 
other most important truths; but concerning these, as all have not 
before them the same range and variety of facts; as they differ in 
their powers of comparison and reasoning, in their idiosyncracies, 
their education, religion, philosophy, and modes of thought, and in 
their several antecedents; there will be corresponding divergencies 
in their conclusions, even from the same facts; and, with the con¬ 
viction of Spiritualism there may, in some minds, co-exist notions 
inconsistent and even logically incompatible with it. It would lead 
me too far to trace this in detail, but the history of the fight for 
every new truth, furnishes an instance of the individual mode in 


346 


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which it has always found its admission into the human mind. 
Spiritualism is not a new religion, but a quickener of the sojjlj An 
acceptance of the law of gravitation does not bind all the various 
sects into one, nor rectify all their false notions and narrow creeds. 
So neither does a belief in the facts of Spiritualism. One will follow 
them into philosophy, another into religion, another into both. One 
will make them a pastime, another will see in them not even enough 
for sport. But there is one point to which objection is made from 
ignorance of this law on which so extensive and injurious a mis¬ 
understanding prevails, that a reference to it becomes necessary. It 
is alleged that, in America, at least, Spiritualists generally are 
deniers of Christianity, and are absolutely hostile to the Bible and 
its teachings. As I cannot endorse the extravagant statements on 
this head which have been so widely circulated, so neither would I 
conceal that, so far as I can gather from the tone of transatlantic 
spiritual literature, there is, to a painful extent, a basis of truth for 
these exaggerations. But the point to be proved is, that this an¬ 
tagonism, to whatever extent it exists, originated in the spiritual 
belief, and is a consequence of it—that whereas before men accepted 
it, they were Christians; since they received it, and through having 
received it, they have ceased to be so, and have become anti-Chris¬ 
tian. How, I think it will be found upon investigation that while 
there are Spiritualists of almost every religious persuasion both in 
and out of Christendom, yet, the Spiritualism of to-day has fallen 
chiefly among those who were outside of all churches and religious 
organizations. 

Professing Christians as a rule would not hear of Spiritualism, 
they did not want to know more about the Spirit-world. Herein 
seems to me its providential mission, and how sad, yet how natural, 
that those who call themselves the religious classes should be its 
bitterest opponents. They seemed to think it even a sin to inquire 
further, they had light enough already ; perhaps, a little more would 
show the dust and cobwebs in their spiritual habitations, and, from 
very shame, they might be put to some trouble to sweep and gar¬ 
nish them afresh ; so, they concluded to put up their shutters, and, 
if Spiritualism met them in the streets, to frown upon it as not 
being either respectable or needed, and to pass by on the other side] 
But, with those previously unable to realize a belief in anything 
beyond nature and the present life, it was not so. Viewing all 
things from the ultimate and outer plane of being, metaphysical and 


TEACHINGS. 


347 


theological argument seemed to them at best but of dubious nature 
and of little cogency. In place of doubtful disputation they asked 
for facts. A reference to the facts of the Bible only added to their 
perplexities. They asked, if Spirits manifested their presence, and 
intervened in human affairs, and if there was a providence in the 
Bible times, why are they not to be discerned in our time F If such 
were possible in past ages they must be possible in this age, and 
the need of them is as great now as then ? To this, what satisfac¬ 
tory reply could be given by those who believed that this kind of 
evidence was now a mere matter of ancient history, and that God 
was nearer to the world in those days than in these? Instead of 
the miracles being evidence of the truths for which they were cited, 
they simply brought the books recording them into discredit, and 
caused their indiscriminate rejection. But Spiritual manifestations 
in the present time, under their own eyes, which they could witness 
for themselves; this was just the evidence they needed—just that 
adapted to their state. Indeed, they were the very demonstration of 
which they were in quest. To them they were the revelation of the 
certainty of a Spirit-world, and of an hereafter life, which the 
current cold theology had obscured from view. Only with this new 
conviction could Christianity become to them a possibility; without 
it there was no fulcrum to which the lever of Christianity could 

be applied. . „ 

True, many of the most important consequences or “ teachings 
of this fact would at first be but dimly perceived; their unfoldment 
would be gradual; old prejudices would impede the growth of new 
convictions, and, perhaps, arrest that progress which the soul from 
this new vantage-ground might have gained; but even so, those m 
whose hearts this vital truth had gained possession must be nearer 
to Christianity than they were before, for it gave to them demonstra¬ 
tions of the Future Life of Man, with all the consequences that 
must necessarily flow from such a knowledge. None of the exist¬ 
ing teachings of churches had been able to do them this inesti¬ 
mable service. The blunder is, in regarding as a consequence of 
Spiritualism notions and states of mind existing anterior to its 
reception, and derived from a false philosophy which Spiritualism 
when studied in its principles tends more or less quickly to eradi¬ 
cate. , ... -i • 

I go yet further, and affirm advisedly that Spiritua.ism is emi¬ 
nently adapted to remove what is usually to the sceptical mind, an 


348 


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insuperable obstacle to the recognition of the truth of the Bible 
history. Io the “free thinker,” the miracles, prodigies, apparitions, 
and other spiritual phenomena recorded in the Bible are utterly in¬ 
credible; and the more educated and scientific he is, the greater 
does this incredibility appear to him. Now, I put it to the reader’s 
common sense, whether a belief in the phenomenal facts of modern 
spiritual manifestation, such as have been seen and recorded by 
living witnesses, must not, more than any abstract reasoning or at¬ 
tempted historical verification, show how utterly untenable this ground 
of unbelief really is. Is he less likely to believe that a visible Spirit- 
hand wrote upon the walls of Belshazzar’s palace, who has seen a Spirit- 
hand tracing characters under his own eyes? Is he less likely to 
believe that the Apostles spoke in unknown tongues, “ as the Spirit 
gave them utterance” who has heard mediums under spiritual in¬ 
fluence speak languages with which they were totally unacquainted ? 
Is he less likely to believe that angels rolled away the stone from 
the door of the sepulchre, who has seen heavy objects moved by 
invisible agents in his own apartments? Is he less likely to 
believe that Philip was carried from Gaza to Azotus, who has 
seen a medium taken up from the floor by an invisible power, and 
floated in the atmosphere, about the room, in the presence of numer¬ 
ous witnesses ? Is he less likely to believe in the apocalyptic visions 
and in the Spirit-voices heard by John the Bevelator, and in the 
touch of the Spirit-hand felt, and in the Spirit-men seen by the 
prophet Daniel, who knows that spiritual visions and apparitions of 
spirit-men are seen, that the touch of Spirit-hands is felt, and that 
the words spoken by Spirit-voices are heard, now ? Surely, no men 
can have the same assurance of the truth of these Scripture narra¬ 
tives, as those who have had experience of the analogous spiritual 
facts, occurring at the present day. 

Again, we must not confound the teachings of Spirits with the 
teachings of Spiritualism; thongh this is a mistake perhaps even 
more common than the one just pointed out; and it is one to which 
inquirers are especially liable at the commencement of their investi¬ 
gations. We are apt to import into this, as we do into other in¬ 
quiries, the notions gained elsewhere; and one of these prevalent 
notions, is, that spirits know almost everything and can do almost 
everything. Spiritualism effectually dispels this delusion. The 
investigator soon learns that Spirits are not a kind of minor gods, 
but that they are men like ourselves, differing from us only in not 


TEACHINGS. 


349 


having the same visible body—that they are fallible, and, so far as 
at present known, no more to be implicitly relied on, as guides of 
opinion and conduct, than men on earths This is the order of Pro¬ 
vidence. -God has given to each of us conscience and reason, not to 
rust in sloth, but to be kept pure and bright by constant use and 
ever-increasing exercise. It is true that in their use we may make 
many mistakes, and it is pretty certain that we shall do so, even 
though we exert our utmost efforts to avoid them; and this should 
teach us to be modest and charitable; but the sum of all mistakes 
arising from the limitation and imperfection of the human faculties 
will be far short of the capital mistake of surrendering them to 
another’s guidance, and burying in the earth of the sensual nature, 
the talents, be they few or many, which God has entrusted to us 
that we may faithfully employ them in His service. The true 
spiritual theory is not necessarily that which spirits teach, but that 
which commends itself to the deepest intuitions of the spiritual man, 
and the fullest and freest exercise of his reasoning powers. 

If these reflections are sound, they show not only the need of con¬ 
ducting this, inquiry in a spirit of careful discrimination, but I 
think they also indicate what appears to me the true method for its 
prosecution. I will endeavour to illustrate this by a few consider¬ 
ations and examples. 

Astronomy reveals to us the movements of the heavenly bodies, 
and the laws which regulate their motion. Geology makes us 
acquainted with the past states of the earth, and the forms animate 
and inanimate that once peopled it. Chemistry teaches us the pro¬ 
perties and constituent elements of bodies. As physical science 
consists in a knowledge of the facts and laws of the material world, 
so psychical science must consist in a knowledge of the facts and laws 
of the soul; and, as we can learn of the material world only by the 
study of its phenomena—the varied manifestations of invisible force ; 
so we can learn of the spiritual world only in like manner. The same 
method of study must be pursued in both. We must observe and 
collate facts, and see what these facts teach. We must study phe¬ 
nomena ere we can attain to the understanding of their governing 
principles. In doing so, the most diligent and careful student will 
often blunder. How many crude hypotheses, how many erroneous 
and partial theories have been put forward in geology? Yet 
geology is a true science. The corrective to any wrong induction 
that the geologist may make, is to be found in a larger and more 


350 


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careful study of the facts of that science. As these become more 
fully and better known, geological science becomes both more com¬ 
prehensive and more accurate. So with psychical and spiritual 
science. The Spiritualist, like the geologist, may read his lesson 
wrongly, may build his conclusions on insufficient data. To correct 
his judgment, he must compare his experience with the experience 
of others, and the experience of the present with that of the past; 
and sometimes, even then, suspend his conclusions till further facts 
are known. 

As the oak is contained within, and is the outgrowth of the acorn, 
so the teachings of Spiritualism are contained within, and are the 
outgrowth of its phenomenal facts. Only let the student be sure that 
what he regards as its teachings are the outgrowth of the facts, and 
not of fancies about the facts. To thoroughly understand these facts 
in all their relations and consequences, in a way entirely satisfactory, 
would require vast knowledge and vast powers ; an intimate knowledge 
of the laws of matter and of mind, of the imponderable elements and 
magnetic forces, and a deep spiritual insight and clear perception of 
the relations between the psychical and the physical qosmos. At 
present, and perhaps for a long time, our chief work must be to 
gather together the materials for the building this goodly edifice, 
here a brick, and there a plank; when all is ready, in the providence 
of God, the master-builders will appear. 

But each one who has had any considerable experience in Spirit¬ 
ualism may, even now, answer the question relatively, if not abso¬ 
lutely ; little as he may know compared with what he is conscious 
he does not know of it, he may yet point out how its teachings are 
understood by him, and the mode by which in his judgment more 
light from them can be best attained. Especially is it incumbent 
upon those who are urging Spiritualism upon public attention to do 
so on fitting occasion; hence, and with a view to excite thought 
upon this subject, the present response to the inquiry of the Crisis 
as to what is meant by “ the teachings of Spiritualism.” 

Pascal remarks that—“The immortality of the soul is a matter 
which so essentially concerns man, and touches him so nearly, that 
we must have lost all sense of feeling if we are indifferent on this 
engrossing subject.” 

Now I affirm that this immortality “ which so essentially concerns 
man, and touches him so nearly,” is demonstrated by Spiritualism 


TEACHINGS. 


351 


as it can be demonstrated in no other way* Philosophy has debated 
it for ages and still left it an open question. It is true that 
Christianity affirms it, and in its origin attested its truth by won¬ 
drous spiritual manifestations, and that, even now, Christians appeal 
to these as its chief evidence. Take these out of the New Testament, 
and what evidence of the soul’s immortality can Christianity give 
which Paganism had not given before ? It is questionable if it could 
give as much. In some Christians this faith in the soul’s immor¬ 
tality is strong and earnest; but more frequently it moves with 
slow and tottering steps, supported only by education and by habit. 
In either case it is to them a faith only; but to those who have had 
experience of the facts of Spiritualism it is something more. They 
have not only faith but knowledge; to them all doubt is dissipated, 
it is a demonstrated reality, one of the fixed facts of the universe. 
When the reality of motion was denied, the philosopher got up and 
walked; in like manner Spiritualism answers the question, “If a 
man die shall he live again ?” not by appeals to authority, nor by 
verbal argument, but by pointing to the fact that the so-called dead 
manifest their continued presence and agency in our midst. Could 
the Christian world fully recognise the reality of spiritual manifes¬ 
tations now , its present traditional dead form of faith would become 
instinct with a new life which would pulsate in every artery, nerve, 
and fibre. The difference would be like that of the bare wintry tree, 
and the same tree called into new life by the breath of'spring, and clad 
in all the rich beauty of its summer foliage. In giving a full assur¬ 
ance of the certainty of the hereafter life, Spiritualism, as the Crisis 
admits, “ will serve a good end against the naturalistic tendencies of 
the age, especially in England.” 

So also, in The Intellectual Repository for July, 1860, the editor, 
writing against Spiritualim, admits that-i-“ It is an incontestable 
fact that materialism dreadfully abounds; this materialism chains 
men’s minds down to mere matter, and causes them to immerse all 
their governing affections in merely earthly things. Mammon is 

* To prevent tlie possibility of cavil or misapprehension, it may here he advisable to state that 
I use the term “ immortality” to signify the Future Life of man after the death of the body. I 
am aware that the question has been raised whether this necessarily involves “immortality” in 
the strict sense of the word. Possibly, it may not necessarily; though it will he generally 
conceded that it does so practically. Absolute demonstration of immortality is of course 
impossible, as it necessarily transcends all experience; hut in proving that man survives the 
body, and that there is a spirit-world, the whole fabric of materialism with all its appurtenances is 
swept away; and if there be any further discussion of the question, it must be carried into a 
higher sphere; it is no longer (even in seeming) a physical, but a mural question. 


352 


TEACHINGS. 


their chief god, and Venus, Bacchus, and Mars are their principal 
idols. Thus naturalism, as Swedenborg designates materialism, 
awfully prevails in the church, even where the appearance is to the 
contrary. A knowledge of the spiritual world is the greatest desidera¬ 
tum of the age. There can be no improvement in au upward direction 
without this knowledge, nor can there be any living faith in a life after 
death. Now, it may be that spiritualism is permitted for a season, 
as a means of breaking up this dreadful materialism, and the prevail¬ 
ing infidelity as to everything spiritual that rests upon it. Many 
minds, it is said, and we believe it, have been awakened by Spiritual¬ 
ism and its effects, to a conviction that there is a spiritual world, 
and a life after death; and that man retains his identity, and still 
exists in a human fcrm, with everything mental and sensational, in 
very much greater perfection than when in the world. He is in a 
spiritual body adapted to the spiritual world, and has lost nothing by 
death but his gross earthly body, which he wants no more. Hence 
the mere clay fabric of materialism is shattered by this miraculous (? 
belief, because it comes home to the very senses, and meets material¬ 
ism on its own ground . Spiritualism, it cannot be doubted, has , 

during the last fifteen years, done much to shatter these rocks of infidelity, 
and to move men's minds in the direction of a faith in the spiritual 
world, and of a life after death." And the Rev. J. P. Stuart, also, 
like the editors of the Intellectuul Repository and the Crisis, a disciple 
and preacher of the doctrines of Swedenborg, declares :—“ We might 
see for ourselves that we are gaining a most glorious result in the 
demonstrations of the spiritual world that are given to men of every 
class; for whether declarations of men who have passed into the 
other life are true or false, weighty or worthless, wise or nonsensical, 
one thing is gained by them. Henceforth the world shall know that 
death is neither a temporary nor an eternal sleep ; but, when stripped 
of his mortal coil, ‘a man’s a man for a’ that.’ From henceforth 
it shall be known that the sphere of immortal life is contiguous to 
the sphere of mortal life, and that millions of spiritual beings, 
unseen and unknown, ‘ throng the air and tread the earth.’ ” 

Again, Spiritualism supplies us with some certain knowledge of 
the Spirit-world. I do not mean that information which Spirits may 
give us in verbal description or pictorial representation, and which, 
in any given instance, may, or may not correspond to fact; but I 
mean that self-revealment of qualities and states which is disclosed 
to us in their intercourse and acts; for in these they truly, though, 



TEACHINGS. 


353 


it may be, unconsciously, manifest themselves; perhaps, in a way 
even contrary to their intentions and verbal communications. Lan¬ 
guage, we know, is not the only, and often not the best expression 
of character. 

Those who, on receiving the first gleams of light from the opening 
spiritual intercourse, have anticipated therefrom absolutely reliable 
verbal dicta concerning all things which appertain to the unseen state 
of existence, and which come within the province of spiritual powers, 
feel a deep sense of disappointment and chagrin on finding that the 
communications from their invisible correspondents are sometimes 
frivolous and false ; and they naturally inquire what they can learn 
from a source which is thus untrustworthy ? This, for one thing:— 
that these prepossessions concerning Spirits and the Spirit-world, 
derived principally from traditional modes of belief, do not rest upon 
any substantial basis,—that in supposing that Spirits are permitted to 
communicate only what is true and of the gravest moment, they 
have been under a delusion. You complain, my friend, that the 
spiritual communications you receive are not to be implicitly trusted. 
Well, perhaps that is the very lesson they are permissively and 
chiefly designed to teach you, and the one which, in relation to the 
subject, you most need; and how could they teach it you so effec¬ 
tually in any other way ? (jf you surrender yourself to the ipse dixit 
of any Spirit, or give up the reins of your own judgment into other 
hands, it is at your peril. ' That is the simple obvious teaching of 
the facts themselves. I speak now of those facts only in which the 
falsehood and frivolity of verbal Spirit-communications are inten¬ 
tional, and unmistakeably originate in the communicating Spirits; 
not of the supposed unreliabilities and levities which result from 
misunderstanding, or from discordant and disturbing elements in 
the medium and surrounding conditions; the proper examination of 
which would require a separate and somewhat detailed consider¬ 
ation. 

I am happy to know that in this I am only re-asserting what has 
been affirmed by more qualified investigators. Thus, the Spiritual' 
Telegraph and Fireside Preacher (for many years the principal organ 
of American Spiritualists), in a leading article on “The Unreliability 
of Spirit-Communications,” remarks:— 

“The feelings both of friends and opposers, as based upon the un¬ 
reliabilities referred to, might we think, undergo a considerable modifi¬ 
cation, if they would look beyond the merely superficial aspects of this 

A A 


354 


TEACHINGS. 


subject, to the grand phenomenal significance which, we believe, it 
was providentially designed to bear to the world. It would then, 
perhaps, be seen that while a communicating Spirit speaks one 
language, an entirely different, and it may be, so far as the Spirit is 
concerned, even totally unintended language, is tacitly borne to the 
Understanding of the reflective receiver of the message. In the 
former aspect, which is merely the verbal and personal, the com¬ 
munication may be totally false; in the latter, it may be, and when 
properly understood, always necessarily is, absolutely true and in¬ 
fallible. In the former sense, the communication may be simply 
from the Spirit, who may or may not be able and willing to tell us 
the truth; in the latter, it may be regarded as in some sense a com¬ 
munication from God, and fraught with infallible truth highly im¬ 
portant for man to know. 

“ Let us illustrate: suppose that raps to letters of the alphabet, 
produced by the spirit of a deceased human being, spell out the 
sentence, “ there is no God, no distinction between good and evil, 
and no moral responsibility.” How taking this in its merely super¬ 
ficial import—the import in which it was evidently intended by the 
Spirit to be understood—it must, of course, be pronounced totally 
false. But supposing that it is established beyond a doubt, that 
this communication actually comes from a human Spirit, is there 
not something else that is said to us by its means ? Most certainly 
there is, and that, after all, is the chief point of value in the whole 
matter. It is tacitly said, among other things, that “ human Spirits 
possess intelligence (and ignorance) similar to that which character¬ 
ized them while dwellers in the mortal body; and that there are 
those who are actually so low in intelligence, in morals, and in the 
perception of spiritual and divine things, as to deny the existence 
of a God, the distinction between good and evil, and the moral 
responsibility of man.” This is the language of the phenomenon 
itself, and in that sense it may be regarded as the language of God, 
just as much as the falling apple was to Newton the language of 
the Great Author of material nature speaking of the general law of 
gravitation. 

«How if it be a fact that there are Spirits in the other world 
whose intellectual and moral states are such as would be represented 
by an outer expression like the one above supposed, then it is of 
great importance that the world, especially the theological world, 
should know that fact. But how can the world be made to know it 


TEACHINGS. 


355 


so certainly as by the fact being permitted to exhibit itself by means 
of just such a communication ? A truth so novel, and so contrary 
to the generally-received opinion on this subject, would not be 
likely to obtain credence on any mere verbal testimony coming 
through a rapping, writing, or speaking medium, and therefore it 
is permitted to come to the world in the language of ocular and oral 
demonstration. The fact, in other words, is permitted to show 
itself. 

“ So then, if all Spirit-manifestations, in all their multitudinous 
varieties, were studied simply in their 'phenomenal aspects and 
bearings, as the facts of the laboratory, of electrical experiments, and 
of planetary and sidereal motions, are studied by the philosopher, 
they would be found to open new and almost boundless fields of 
thought and of scientific demonstration concerning the nature and 
laws of Spirit existence, the relations between this and the invisible 
worlds, the conditions, laws, benefits, and dangers of Spirit inter¬ 
course, and concerning all things pertaining to the interior nature 
of man, both in this world and in the world hereafter. 

“ If, therefore, every merely verbal communication that has ever 
been given by Spirits to mortals is a false one (a supposition which 
we by no means entertain), still the current spiritual phenomena 
are pregnant with the most profound and important instruction to 
those who bring to them the proper spirit and powers of investi¬ 
gation.” 

It may also be noted that the unreliable and frivolous communi¬ 
cations which so perplex and mortify sincere and serious inquirers, 
show most conclusively that they do not proceed from some occult 
mental operation in those inquirers, as they are directly contrary 
to their wishes and expectations. Granting, then, that such facts 
demonstrate that there are Spirits low in mind and morals; that 
the qualities of human nature, evil as well as good, perpetuate them¬ 
selves in the invisible world; that some “pbysico-spiritual mani¬ 
festations have been connected with a very palpable dishonesty on 
the part of spirits,”—on the other hand, (in the words of the Rev. 
T. L. Harris, who does not represent Spiritualism too couleur de 
rose) :— 

« I mus t conclude that others have emanated from high sources 
and been attended with benignant consequences. When the field is 
cleared of disorders, in the putting down of evil, and the preparation 

a a 2 


356 


TEACHINGS. 


of mankind, we have every reason to expect that matter, no less 
than mind, will be glorified by frequent displays of the celestial 
beauties and harmonies. When devout persons tell me of floods 
of delicious odour diffused upon the air;—of angel-voices heard by 
the bedside of the dying, or where two or three are gathered to¬ 
gether in pure love and holy converse ;—of grand and solemn words 
pronounced by invisible lips, and pulsing along the atmosphere;— 
of visions of unearthly beauty, where landscapes beam, apparelled 
in the express purity of the Divine Nature;—when the mother clasps 
the sweet form of her heaven-nurtured infant;—when wife and 
husband meet, whom death has no power to part, since the affections 
of the pure are mightier than mortality;—when the good, the nobly 
great of other days evince their presence by a dispensation of heroic 
strength, to fill the bosom with an equal virtue, and inspire it for as 
true a battle with the evils of the time ;—when, as I know, through 
angel-messengers, the seemingly dead are kept from being buried 
alive; and mariners saved from shipwreck on the wide ocean; and 
travellers preserved from equal perils,—from fire, or from explosions, 
or from the fall of buildings, or the infection of pestilences, on land; 
—when invisible hands strike from the grasp of the physician un¬ 
suitable medicines that might affect the life;—when the sick are 
healed through the presence and influence of angels; when charities 
are made more discriminating; and lips made less censorious; and 
bodies more sound; and hearts more virtuous;—when greater 
strength is given for greater burdens borne for humanity in God; 
when the hungry are fed, and the naked clothed; and those sick 
and in prison ministered unto, through the direct presence and felt 
influence of Angels and good Spirits with man;—every argument 
that concurs to fix my faith in the Christian gospel forces me to 
admit a Divine element in the Spiritual manifestations of our day.” 
(Modern Spiritualism: Its Truths and Errors.) 

Looking then at its two obverse sides, we learn from an open 
spiritual intercourse that the Spirit-world is, to a great extent, a 
reflex of this in its past and present states ; that the future life is a 
continuation under, in some respects, new conditions, of our inner 
or spiritual life in this ; that a man, therefore, who has been a devil 
here, does not emerge into sudden angelhood in the Spirit-world, 
for the kingdom of hell, no less than the kingdom of heaven, is 
within the man; and if he would escape the one and attain the other, 
he may do so here and now. This world has been named “ the rudi- 


TEACHINGS. 


357 


mental sphere,” and rightly so, for here are formed the roots of 
character—of that tree of life which bears its fruit through the count¬ 
less ages of the evermore. The distinction between spiritual and 
temporal, is not that of the present and the future, but of qualities 
and states. Though there may be no novelty in these facts and 
teachings, they still are needed by every denomination of reli¬ 
gionists, and by all classes of philosophers. And in enabling men to 
realize them more vividly, Spiritualism has done and is doing an 
inestimable service. It substitutes facts for mere speculations about 
facts, and thus settles what, for want of the data it supplies, have 
hitherto been interminable wordy controversies. For instance, how 
many volumes have been written on the question, whether, on the 
death of the body, the soul retains its consciousness and active 
powers, or, whether these are suspended till a future and distant 
time, when all will be summoned to simultaneous judgment? 
Spiritualism answers this question, not by disputation, but by show¬ 
ing that Spirits who have left the earthly form, do now manifest 
consciousness, and exercise potencies which often amaze those who 
witness their effects. 

Again, many scientific men affirm that certain of the phenomena 
said to be produced by spiritual agency, cannot possibly take place, 
because they are contrary to the law of gravitation. They forget 
that the evidence of gravitation depends on the testimony of the same 
senses as testify to the reality of levitation, and that if their testi¬ 
mony is rejected as untrustworthy, the proof of gravitation is itself 
invalidated. Spiritualism, while it recognises the physical law, 
teaches, by the demonstration of facts, that there is another law, by 
which the resistance of gravitation is overcome or suspended; or, as 
Mr. Lewes would say, by which “ the path of its direction is inter¬ 
sected by some stronger force.” Dr. Brownson remarks:— 

“ Your learned academicians generally commence their investiga¬ 
tions with the persuasion that all facts of the kind alleged are 
impossible. Their study is simply to explain away the phenomena 

without admitting their supernatural or super-human character. 

Babinet, of the Institute, has just written an essay in the Revue des 
deux Mondes, in which he pronounces the phenomena alleged by our 
recent Spiritists, impossible, because they contradict the law of 
gravitation. Poor man! he reasons as if the phenomena repugnant 
to the law of gravitation, are supposed to be produced by it, or at 
least without a power that overcomes it. Why, the very marvelous- 



358 


TEACHINGS. 


ness of the phenomenon is, that it is contrary to the law of gravita¬ 
tion ; and because it is contrary to the law of gravitation, we infer 
that it is preternatural. The learned member of the Institute argues 
that the fact is impossible, because it would be preternatural, and 
the preternatural is impossible because it would be preternatural! 
When I see a man raised without any visible means to the ceiling, 
and held there by his feet with his head downwards, for half an hour 
or more, without a visible support, I do not pretend that it is in 
accordance with the law of gravitation, but the essence of the fact is 
precisely that it is not. Now, to deny the fact for that reason, is to 
say that the law of gravitation cannot be overcome or suspended, and 
precisely to beg the question. When I throw a stone into the air, 
my force, in some sense, overcomes that of gravitation. How does M. 
Babinet know that there are not invisible powers who can take a man 
and hold him up with his feet to the ceiling, or a table, as easily as I 
can a little child ? The fact of the rising of a table or a man to the 
ceiling, is one that is easily verified by the senses, and, if attested by 
witnesses of ordinary capacity and credibility, must be admitted. 
That it is contrary to the law of gravitation, proves not that it is 
impossible, but that it is possible only pretematurally. It would be 
a real relief to find a distinguished academician who had learned 
practically the elements of logic.” 

I trust that our “learned academicians,” and all whom it may 
concern, will profit by this hint of their learned brother, notwith¬ 
standing the slight tone of asperity in which it is conveyed. It is 
time that a 'priori conclusions should be subordinate to a posteriori 
facts. It is time that in addition to their other learning, academi¬ 
cians and professors should learn to be a little more modest, and a 
little less hasty in dogmatising on matters they have not sufficiently 
investigated. Spiritualism has its teachings for them as well as for 
other classes of the community, and they will yet have to learn them 
too; and the sooner they set about it the better. 

Take another illustration. There are certain persons in whose 
presence, probably from whose effluences and auras, Spirits can 
draw certain magnetic or other elements, and with these clothe a 
“ Spirit-hand” with sufficient materiality to be seen and felt by all 
present. This, within the last few years, has been experienced by 
hundreds of persons in this metropolis, and throughout Europe and 
America. This fact teaches that matter is fluent to spirit; that, under 
given conditions, the human Spirit, even when deprived of its earthly 


TEACHINGS. 


359 


vehicle, can dominate matter—can operate on and control substances 
in the physical world. These finer essences and elements of nature 
seem as it were, the border-land—a point d’appui between spirit 
and those grosser forms of matter cognisable to the senses, and 
to present a field rich in possible discoveries of the highest magnitude 
to the qualified investigator. 

It must at present suffice simply to indicate that Spiritualism gives 
us clearer views of many things difficult and perplexing in our study 
of the past; in sacred and classical, ancient and mediaeval history. 
It teaches, for instance, that much currently set down to the credit 
of superstition and imposture, may nevertheless be true, or contain 
a large element of truth; and that men in the past were not altoge 
ther, in such matters, the knaves and fools they are so frequently 
represented. “ For the first time, in the light of these phenomena,” 
says Mr. Harris, “ the so-called miraculous evidence of the various 
religions, both of antiquity and of recent date, is brought within the 
purview of a rational investigation.” 

I need not pursue these illustrations farther, as my purpose is 
simply to indicate the method by which the “ Teachings of Spiritual¬ 
ism” may best be ascertained; but there is yet one point to which I 
would briefly advert. 

Some publications, representing different sections of the Christian 
Church, look on Spiritualism with “jaundiced eye,” because it does 
not endorse the doctrines they severally represent, and we are told 
that it “ ought to rest” on certain “ leading truths 5” though there is 
by no means a general agreement among them as to what these “ lead¬ 
ing truths” are. I am not indifferent to religious truth indeed, I 
regard its pursuit as the noblest that can occupy the mind of man. 
Did I not believe that a true Spiritualism was in harmony with all 
related truth, I should not seek to make it more widely known and 
better understood. My interest in it arises chiefly from the consider¬ 
ation that it is calculated, by a class of proofs usually ignored, to aid 
in establishing and confirming men in those fundamental truths of 
religion, which are held in common by all churches, and on which 
they necessarily rest. Spiritualism takes men beyond the ^specific 
differences which divide churches, to those “ leading truths,” which 
unite and knit them together. It cannot, therefore, become the 
mere satellite of any sect, or of any church. 

If the reader has stood at the Land’s End, and watched the waves 
as they foamed, and beat, and broke at the base of the rocks below, 


360 


TEACHINGS. 


and, perchance, thought of the many and various ships of all nations 
journeying over the vast ocean before him to the new world beyond; 
he will have had presented the correspondence to that great time-sea 
which is ever beating against the shore of our mortal life, and of the 
churches—spiritual ships, sailing on it to that new world where 
there is no more seaships of all kinds, hoisting different colours, 
under different captains, manned by different crews, speaking dif¬ 
ferent languages. And from each he may hear a voice, one cries— 
“ Come and voyage with me; this ship sails under royal patronage, 
is chartered by act of parliament, is well manned and victualled, there 
is wine and music on board, the company are all respectable, every - 
thing is arranged for convenience and comfort; come with me.” 
Another cries—“ Come and voyage with me; this is an ancient, 
stately vessel—the oldest ship afloat, it has withstood many a storm; 
when you come aboard, you need take no further trouble, the ship is 
safe, it can’t go wrong; come with me.” And a third, in a tone of 
great complacency, cries—“ Come and voyage with me; this is a new 
ship, built according to certain occult principles, of which all ship¬ 
builders for ages have been ignorant, and our captain is the most 
wonderful captain that ever was or ever will be; come with me.” 
And there are more voices, a perfect Babel of them, equally clamorous 
and importunate. Instead of adding to the number and heightening 
the din, I would simply say to each and all—“ Brothers, let every 
man be fully persuaded in his own mind. With Reason for your 
compass, the ISTew Testament for your chart, the Polar-star of Duty 
for your guide, and genial gales from the Spirit-world to waft you on 
your way; I wish you all a safe and prosperous voyage. Despise 
not the friendly light-houses Spiritualism has erected to warn you 
from the sunken rocks and dangerous places, and as you go down to 
the sea in ships, and do business in great waters, may you see the 
works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. In the noble words 
of Plato:—“ Let him then take confidence for his soul, who during 
his life has adorned it not with strange attire, but with that which 
properly belongs to it, such as temperance, justice, strength, liberty, 
and truth; he may tranquilly await the hour of his departure for the 
other world, as being prepared for the voyage when destiny shall 
call him to undertake it.” 


Note. —As supplement to the foregoing, I present a chapter on the 
“Moral Consequences of Spiritualism,” from a work entitled Qu’e&t 


TEACHINGS. 


361 


ce que le Spiritism# ? by Allan Kaedec, editor of the Revue Spirite, 
Paris. 

“By reasoning, practical study, and observation of facts, Spiri¬ 
tualism confirms and proves the fundamental bases of religion, 
namely:— 

“ The existence of an only, omnipotent God, creator of all things, 
supremely just and good. 

“ The existence of the soul: its immortality and its individuality 
after death. 

“Man’s free will, and the responsibility which he incurs for all his 
acts. 

“ Man’s happy or unhappy state after death, according to the use 
which he has made of his faculties during this life. 

“The necessity of good and the dire consequences of evil. 

“ The utility of prayer. 

“It resolves many problems which find their only possible ex¬ 
planation in the existence of an invisible world, peopled by beings 
who have thrown off the corporeal envelope, who surround us, and 
who exercise an increasing influence upon the visible world. 

“ It is a source of consolation :— 

“ By the certainty which it gives us of the future which awaits us. 

“By the material proof of the existence of those whom we have 
loved on earth, the certainty of their presence about us, the certainty 
of rejoining them in the world of spirits, and the possibility of 
communicating with them, and of receiving salutary counsels from 
them. 

“ By the courage which it gives us in adversity. 

“By the elevation which it impresses upon our thoughts in 
giving us a just idea of the value of the things and goods of this 
world. 

“ It contributes to the happiness of man upon the earth 

“ In counteracting hopelessness and despair. 

“ In teaching man to be content with what he has. 

“ In teaching him to regard wealth, honour, and power as trials 
more to be dreaded than desired. 

“ In inspiring him with sentiments of charity and true fraternity 
for his neighbour. 

“ The result of these principles, once propagated and rooted in the 
human heart, will be:— 

“ To render men better, and more indulgent to their kind. 


362 


TEACHINGS. 


“To gradually destroy individual selfishness, by the community 
which it establishes among men. 

“ To excite a laudable emulation for good. 

“ To put a curb upon disorderly desires. 

“ To favour intellectual and moral development, not merely with 
respect to present well-being, but to the future, which is attached 
to it. 

“ And, by all these causes, to aid in the progressive amelioration of 

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HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


363 




APPENDIX A. 

HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 

The common reading of Scripture is seldom accompanied by any 
very active mental effort to attain an intelligent understanding of 
subjects of which the full meaning does not lie obviously on the 
surface. Philologists and scholars contend over different translations 
and various readings. Theologians, where a question of doctrine is 
concerned, will wrangle about texts, and the microscope has even 
been applied to ancient manuscripts, in order that a letter in a Greek 
word affecting a disputed dogma might be determined; but ordinarily, 
the book is read with a sort of dull reverence. When we come to a 
matter that is obscure to us, we rarely care to gather up and follow 
out the scattered hints and allusions which may possibly throw some 
light upon it; and do not think of applying to it the research and 
criticism which we should to a Greek play, or a chapter of early 
Homan history; and especially is this the case with regard to the 
various expressions and statements in Scripture concerning the 
Spiritual world and man’s relation to it. To take one point in illus¬ 
tration, the Christian churches all agree that Divine communications 
were frequently made to the Jewish people, more particularly in the 
early periods of their history—that they received many revelations 
for guidance and for warning, but ho w few are there who could give 
an intelligent answer to, or have even seriously thought upon the 
question —How were these revelations given ? 

We read over and over again that “ the Lord spake,” and that “ the 
word of the Lord” came, unto such an one; but how these expressions 
were understood, and meant to be understood;—this speech was 
communicated —how this word was given, we rarely take the trouble to 
inquire—many, probably, would think it irreverent, or only an exercise 


364 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


of vain curiosity to do so. Certainly, however, the subject need not 
be entered upon with such feelings, and in any such frame of mind 
it would be of little service; but if we enter upon the inquiry in an 
earnest and serious spirit, in order that we may better meet the 
question—“ Understandest thou what thou readest ?” it may conduct 
us to more important conclusions than we have at all anticipated. 
Let me, however, at the outset, guard the reader against supposing 
that the writer has made some great discovery, or indeed, any 
discovery at all; were he capable of doing so he would still prefer 
that the reader should make these discoveries for himself—he will be 
more than satisfied if it should in the slightest degree aid him in his 
endeavours. 

First, let me remark that, whatever may be the propriety of the 
phrase “Word of God,” as applied to the books of the Old and New 
Testament in their collective character, on a careful collation of the 
passages in which this or an equivalent expression occurs, it will, I 
think, be evident, that this is not the sense in which it was then em¬ 
ployed, indeed, could not be, as it is found chiefly in the earlier 
books, written long before the canon of Scripture was completed, 
when, in fact, the greater part of it was still unwritten. It seems 
rather to have denoted a Divine message—of instruction, counsel, 
command, warning, or prediction, borne in upon the mind or spirit 
of the prophet or inspired person, and by him communicated to the 
people. 

The Eev. J. B. Ferguson asks“How are we to understand the 
popular phrase ‘ Word of God?’ Has God spoken to man as man 
usually speaks to his fellows ? Literally this cannot be true, and it 
will be found, by the candid and careful inquirer, that in every 
instance, where God is represented as speaking to man in the $ 
ancient, sacred books, an agen t is always employed, and one who 
professes either to have seen an angel, or to have been inspired, b 
God speaks to the Jews of old, but it is by prophets or men interiorly"" 
illuminated. He speaks to Apostles, but it is by the Divinity in 
Jesus, or the many manifestations of the spirit of wisdom, through 
the spiritual men and women of the times. Indeed, every manifes¬ 
tation of power, wisdom, and love, is called a word, or the Word of 
God, according to Scriptural usage. The creation and garnishing 
of the heavens and earth; the phenomena of the seasons; the life of 
man, and the provision for its sustentation; the origin, revolutions, 
fall and rise of families and nations; the decisions of judicial tribu- 



GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


365 


nals, and the protection of the unfortunate, are designated in the 
Scriptures, ‘the Word of God.’ The Christ, or anointing of the 
Spirit in Jesus, is emphatically so called in the New Testament. 
The phrase occurs some thirty-three times, and xn no single instance 
does it refer to a look. This is a profound fact, worthy of due con¬ 
sideration.” 

Mrs. De Morgan in her valuable work From Matter to Spirit, de¬ 
votes a chapter to a consideration of the question—“ What is the 
meaning of the phrase, the Word of God?” Words which she 
considers “ have lost their first import as the knowledge of internal 
spiritual things has died away.” From a careful examination of a 
number of passages in Scripture in which these words occur, she 
concludes—“ That the expression ‘ Word of God,’ meant originally 
the Holy Influx by which our Heavenly Father has in all times acted 
on the spirits of His children for their instruction and guidance.” It 
“ is the phrase used in Scripture to express the outpouring efflux 
from our Heavenly Father in its creating, life-giving, and inspiring 
energy, and in its redeeming and sanctifying power; and the Bible 
is the history of the Word in all its degrees of action and modes of 
manifestation, from the simple process of magnetic healing and 
clairvoyance to its full and perfect manifestation in the person of 
the Saviour, the Word made flesh.” She adds that—“Plato, who 
seems to have risen to a spiritual knowledge beyond all except the 
early prophets of Judea, called the Word the Logos, and taught 
that by it the world was created through the aeons, ?.” 

The Rev. W. Cooke, in a work entitled The Shekinah, remarks:— 
“ It is instructive to look back upon past ages, and observe how 
Jehovah has revealed himself to His Church under former dispensa¬ 
tions ; for in different periods of time, the mode of the Divine mani¬ 
festation has been greatly diversified, always adapting itself to man’s 
condition ; and to that gradual disclosure of the Divine perfections 
which a state of mental progression required. In the early ages of 
the world, when men lived in the twilight of revelation, God often 
gave to his people visible and audible manifestations of his pre¬ 
sence.” 

To some of these “ visible and audible manifestations,” in vision 
and in dream, as recorded in Scripture, I would now more particu¬ 
larly refer. 

In the Book of Numbers (xii. 6) we read—“Hear now my words: 
If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself 


366 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


known unto him in a vision, and will speak nnto him in a dream.” 
This appears to have been one of the earliest and most frequent 
modes of Divine communication. “ The word of the Lord,” that 
promised Abraham that his seed should be as the stars for number, 
and foretold that they should serve and be afflicted “in a land 
that is not theirs,” for “ four hundred years and afterwards come 
out with great substance,” “came unto Abraham in a vision.” 
(Gen. xv.) It was “in a dream” that Jacob beheld “a ladder set 
up on earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and the angels of 
God ascending and descending on it;” and that the promise to 
Abraham was renewed with the addition that “ in thee and thy 
seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. xxviii.) 
It was “in a dream” that'“the angel of the Lord” appeared to 
Joseph, saying, “Arise, and take the young child and his mother 
and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: 
for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” And again, 
upon the death of Herod, it was “ in a dream ” he was told by the 
angel to go into the land of Israel; and yet, again, it was by 
“being warned of God in a dream” that he turned aside into 
Galilee and dwelt in Nazareth.” (Matt, ii.) It was “in a vision” 
that the Lord directed Ananias to Saul, Saul himself having pre¬ 
viously “ seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and 
putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.” And he 
received his sight as shown in the vision. (Acts ix.) Similarly “ a 
vision” appeared to Paul in the night. “There stood a man of 
Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, come over into Macedonia and 
help us.” (Acts xvi.) 

Concerning the visions and revelations of St. Paul, the Eev. S. 
Noble in his Appeal, Sfc., after quoting the vision of Peter, proceeds 
to remark—(the italics are his own)“ Does not the Apostle Paul 
declare, that, to him, revelations from heaven were things of 
common occurrence? He says—and states it among his claims to 
respect and attention, not as what ought to involve his pretensions in 
doubt and denial —‘I will come to visions and revelations of the 
Lord. I knew a man in Christ (meaning himself) about fourteen 
years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell; 
God knoweth;) such a one caught up to the third heaven. And I 
knew such a man (whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot 
tell; God knoweth;) how that he was caught up into paradise, and 
heard unspeakable words, which it is not possible for man to utter. 


GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


367 


Of such a one will I glory. And lest I should be exalted above 
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to 
me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I 
should be exalted above Jneasure.’ (2 Cor. xii.) Communications 
with the spiritual world, then, were common with the Apostles, 
and were regarded by them as properly belonging to their office; 
and specific examples of them abound throughout the Scriptures, 
both of the Old and New Testament. So, if we are to give any 
credit to the unanimous assertion of all the primitive fathers, simi¬ 
lar communications were extremely frequent in the early ages of 
Christianity. But, without adverting to these, the possibility of 
such communications cannot be denied by any believer of the Scrip¬ 
tures.” 

Many revelations in dream and vision were a kind of teaching by 
symbol and correspondence; such were the visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, 
Daniel, the prophets generally, the vision seen by Peter “in a 
trance,” accompanied “ with a voice from heaven,” (Acts x,) and the 
visions of John the Bevelator. There were even interpreters of 
dreams. Joseph not only received revelation in dreams, but he 
interpreted the dreams of others. The same is recorded of Daniel, 
the Prophet, and “ master of the magicians ;” and of Zechariah we 
are told that he “ had understanding in the visions of God.” (2 Chron. 
xxvi.) It is probable that revelation may have been communi¬ 
cated by dream and vision in many instances where the particular 
mode is not specified. We read in the Second Book of Samuel, 
(vii., 4,) “ And it came to £ass that night, that the word of the Lord 
came unto Nathan, saying, go and tell my servant David, thus saith 
the Lord.” And after directing him to inform David of certain 
things, it adds—“ According to all these words, and according to all 
this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.” Had these words, 
(inserted as it were parenthetically,) been omitted, we should not 
have known that this revelation was given in a vision. In the days 
of Eli, we are told that there was no open vision, and it was when 
Samuel was laid down to sleep, that “ the Lord called Samuel.” It is 
to be noted that in many instances where it is not specified that the 
communications were given in a dream, it does mention that it was 
at night; and that they partake very much of the nature of dreams. 
Nor does this detract from their Divine significance, nay, the mind 
may have been then in a better, because a more receptive condition. 
« j n a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon 



368 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


men, in slumberings upon the bed: then God openeth the ears of men 
and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his 
purpose, and hide pride from man.” It is evident from several of 
the instances cited, (and others might be added,) that this mode of 
spiritual communication was not peculiar to the Jews. The Prophet 
Joel, indeed, connects the dreaming of dreams, and the seeing of 
visions, with, and apparently as a consequence of, that universal 
outpouring of the Divine spirit upon all flesh which he predicts. I 
think, too, there is evidence that the state of sleep in which revela¬ 
tion by dream and vision was imparted, was not, (certainly not in all 
cases,) a natural sleep, but one spiritually induced, and probably for 
this very purpose. On two occasions when the angel Gabriel ad¬ 
dressed himself to Daniel, the latter tells us, “Now, as he was 
speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep,, on my face toward the 
ground;” that this “deep sleep” was inducedjmddenly, and by the 
spiritual presence, is clearly implied in the narrative, in which he 
also tells us, “ The men that were with me saw not the vision, but a 
great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves; 

.and I retained no strength.” Incidentally I may point out that 

in the verse following this, (Dan. x., 10,) he proceeds to narrate, 
“ And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and 
upon the palms of my hands.” So that in this narrative we have the 
phenomena of the “ deep sleep,” the “ quaking,” the “ voice,” and 
the “ touch” of a Spirit-hand, as in the experience of hundreds of 
persons in the present day. Again, in that wonderful history of the 
Transfiguration, we are told, “ But Peter, and they that were with 
him, (Christ) were heavy with sleep.” And in that agony in the garden, 
when “an angel came and strengthened him,” we are told that 
“ when he came to the disciples, he findeth them asleep,” and this 
notwithstanding he had said unto them, “My soul is exceeding 
sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” 
And although, finding them asleep, he said unto Peter, “What, 
could ye not watch with me one hour?” yet, a second time, “he 
came and found them asleep again;” and it appears that even a third 
time they fell asleep. That it was an ordinary sleep on these occa¬ 
sions, is, I think, under the circumstances, and considering the cha¬ 
racter of the disciples, and especially of the enthusiastic and vigilant 
Peter, scarcely credible. In the present day, every medium is aware 
that the presence of, and communion with, spiritual beings, pre¬ 
disposes to sleep, and often directly and irresistibly induces the 




GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 369 

" deep sleep,” similar to that sometimes witnessed under the influence 
of human magnetism. 

One mode of receiving Divine communication and oracular re¬ 
sponses peculiar to the Jews was by Urim and Thummim. Concerning 
this, very little appears to be known. In the opinion of the Rev. W. 
Cooke, Urim and Thummim was “ only another name for the twelve 
polished and precious stones which were set in ouches of gold, and 
put in the breast-plate of the Jewish high-priest. . . . Urim expressing 
the variety of hues reflected, and Thummim the perfection of the 
diversified brightness and beauty.” The first mention of it is in 
Exodus, (chap, xxviii.) where it is thus described:—“ And thou shalt 
make the breast-plate of judgment with cunning work; after the 
work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, 
and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. Four¬ 
square it shall be, being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof. 
And thou shalt set it in settings of stones, even four rows of stones; 
the first shall be a sardine, a topaz, and a carbuncle; this shall be 
the first row. And the second shall be an emerald, and a sapphire, 
and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, and an agate, and an 
amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they 
shall be set in gold in their inclosings. And the stones shall be with 
the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, 
like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name shall they 
lie, according to the twelve tribes. . . . And thou shalt put in the 
breast-plate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they 
shall be upon Aaron’s heart when he goeth in before the Lord: and 
Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel before the 
Lord continually.” It is evident from this passage that the Urim 
and the Thummim were already known, but it throws no light on 
their origin. We next find it mentioned in Leviticus (viii. 6, 9), 
where it relates that Moses, after arraying Aaron and his sons in 
their priestly robes, “ put the breastplate upon him (Aaron): also he 
put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim .” In Numbers 
(chap, xxvii.) we read—“ And the Lord said unto Moses, take thee 
Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine 

hand upon him.And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, 

who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the 
Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come 
in, both he, and the children of Israel with him, even all the congre¬ 
gation.” In Deuteronomy (chap, xxxiii.) we read that Moses, in 

B B 



370 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


blessing the children of Israel before his death, said of Levi, “ Let 
thy Thummim and thy TJrim be with thy holy one.” We meet with 
no further mention of these for a period of about four hundred 
years. It is then stated (1 Sam. xxix. 6) “ And when Saul inquired 
of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by 
Z Trim, nor by prophets .” Finally, we read (Ezra ii. 63), “ And the 
Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy 
things, till there stood up a priest with TJrim and with Thummim” 
In Nehemiah (vii. 65), the same verse is repeated verbatim. These I 
believe are all the passages in which the Urim and the Thummim are 
mentioned in Scripture. Josephus tells us that in the time of the 
Maccabees the high priest Hyrcanus foretold by the TJrim and 
Thummim several things that came to pass. And in the third book 
of his Antiquities of the Jews, in describing the Ephod worn by the 
high-priest, he says:—“ In the void place of this garment, there was 
inserted a piece of the bigness of a span, embroidered with gold, 
and the other colours of the ephod, and is called Essen (the breast¬ 
plate) which in the Greek language signifies the Oracle .” And of 
the TJrim and Thum/mim he tells us :—“ As to those stones, which 
we told you before the high priest bare on his shoulders, which 
were sardonyx (and I think it needless to describe their nature, 
they being known to everybody), the one of them shined out when 
God was present at their sacrifices, I mean that which was in the 
nature of a button on his right shoulder, bright rays darting out 
thence, and being seen even by those that were most remote; 
which splendour yet was not before natural to the stone. This has 
appeared a wonderful thing to such as have not so far indulged 
themselves in philosophy as to despise Bivine Revelation. Yet will I 
mention what is still more wonderful than this : For God declared 
beforehand, by those twelve stones which the high priest bare on 
his breast, and which were inserted into his breastplate, when they 
should be victorious in battle; for so great a splendour shone forth 
from them before the army began to march, that all the people were 
sensible of God’s being present for their assistance. Whence it 
came to pass that those Greeks, who had a veneration for our laws, 
because they could not possibly contradict this, called that breast¬ 
plate * the Oracle .’ Now this breastplate and this sardonyx left oil 
shining two hundred years before I composed this book, God having 
been displeased at the transgression of his laws.”* 

* Mr. A. J. Davis lias given the following answer to a question as to the origin of the 



GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 371 

I think that these passages show that this was a common and 
frequent mode of receiving Divine communications. Had various 
instances been given of such communication, it might be inferred 
that they were given only in those instances ; but there is no instance 
recorded of an answer delivered from this oracle. “It may, there¬ 
fore, be inferred that it was perpetually consulted, and that its 
answers are never given but under the assertion that ‘ God spake and 
said,’ or that ‘ the word of the Lord came’ to any individual, without 
explaining how His word came, or by what organ He spake. It is 
now impossible to discover when or how often God spake to Moses 
and the other prophets by the Urim and Thummim, when, from the 
literal words of Scripture, we might suppose that He spake to them 
directly, and with an audible voice.”* According to Prideatjx, the 
oracle was given by an audible voice from the mercy-seat, between 
the cherubim Maimonides says that the priest stood with his face 
toward the Ark of the Covenant; that behind him stood the person 
who approached to consult the oracle, his face being turned toward 
the back of the priest; that when his question was made known, the 
priest, filled with the Divine Spirit, looked into the Eational or 
Breast-plate of Judgment, in which certain letters becoming con¬ 
spicuous, he, the high-priest, composed the answer thus exhibited. 
The oracular answers returned by this means, Maimonides and others 

Urim and Tliummini —“In most ancient periods it was customary for tribes to choose the last 
born of several sons to study the wonders of magic, which wonders in these later days are called 
the ‘ secrets of wisdom.’ The youngest of seven brothers, in the first periods of civilization, was 
supposed to be the favoured of heaven—the particular son, or heaven-chosen messenger of Jehovah 
to the children of men. He was accordingly set apart and anointed with great ceremony, as the 
precious or sacred person. At a proper age lie entered upon the discharge of the duties of his high 
commission. Upon his breast was fixed a holy and costly plate, ornamented with two signs. One, 
which was a metallic stone gem, was indicative of the wisdom of magic; the other, which was a 
transparent tube, filled with holy oil and hermetically sealed, was representative of Divinity, or the 
Incarnation. The first, which had descended from generation to generation as a gem-gift from 
Jehovah, was called Urim, literally signifying ‘ the eye of light,’ or the window of wisdom. The 
second, the tube of oil, which had also descended from the gods and the ages, was called Thummim 
—literally signifying 4 the perfection,’ or the presence of the Spirit of God. The young man, when 
sufficiently advanced in years, was called 4 a priest,’ and was accordingly revered and obeyed in 
everything. The sacred signs and symbols—or emblems—were wrought upon his garments with 
exquisite particularity. When the sage seventh son spoke the words of prophecy, or whenever he 
talked like an oracle, it was supposed that he had been looking into Urim, or the eye of wisdom; 
and whenever he gave counsel, as * 4 from the Lord,’ he was supposed to have touched his tongue 
with a drop of Thummim which mysteriously, like the widow’s crucible, never lost in quantity 
from age to age. It is our impression that the state of clairvoyance, or the condition of spirit- 
mediumship, was occasionally induced by looking into the Urim. The reader wall find a parallel 
instance, which fully explains the uses of the ancient stone in our autobiography, The Mugic Stuff” 
* The Theology and Metaphysics of Scripture, by Andrew Carmichael, Vol. I., Disq. 4. 

11 B 2 



372 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


class among the lowest of the four gradations of prophecy It has been 
argued that the one was symbolical of the sacerdotal, and the other of 
the judicial functions of the High-Priest, and that the Apostle James 
alluded to both (i., 17). The Rev. Thomas Scott, in his Commentary 
on the Bible, observes that—“Various opinions have been formed 
concerning the manner in which these answers were given, but only 
two seem at all probable : either the high-priest was answered by an 
audible voice from above the mercy-seat within the vail, or he was 
inspired as a prophet to declare the will of God on the occasion. 
The Jewish writers say that this method of inquiring the will of God 
was terminated when Solomon built the temple, and it is certain 
that little is afterwards recorded concerning it; but it seems rather 
to have fallen into disuse, because the high-priests in general 
neglected their duty, and the prophets, as extraordinary messengers 
of God, were appointed to supersede them.” 

The words TJrim and Thummin signify light and perfection , or as 
the Septuagint renders them, revelation and truth, indicating doubt¬ 
less the belief of the Jews that by this method of illumination, the 
will of God was revealed after a true and perfect manner. 

The Teraphim, or images which Rachel carried off from her father, 
(Genesis xxxi., 19,) are supposed by many of the learned to have 
been used for a similar purpose to the TJrim. Spencer, in his Be 
Legibus Hebrceorum, mentions that these oracles were essentially the 
same as the TJrim, and the legends of the Targumists also agree that 
they were oracular, and not objects of religious worship. This view 
seems to derive confirmation from the narrative of Micah, recorded 
in the 17th and 18th chapters of Judges, where the “ Teraphim” is 
distinguished from both the “ graven image,” and the “ molten 
image;” and also from the following passage in Hosea, (iii., 4,) 
where it is impossible the word “ Teraphim” can mean idols:—“ For 
the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and 
without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and 
without an ephod, and without Teraphim.” Mr. Rich remarks, 
“ whether it resembled the TJrim in construction or not, the Teraphim 
were in all probability a means of obtaining divine responses.” 
{Encyc. Metropol., article “ Teraphim.”) The Rabbi Levi Ben Gerson, 
says that the Teraphim were human figures, by which the imagination 
of diviners was so excited, that they supposed they heard low voices 
speaking about future events, with which their own thoughts were 
filled, &c. 


GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


373 


Another mode of learning the Divine will, was by the lot. The 
earliest instance of this that I find recorded is in the Book of Joshua, 
(chap, vii.,) where in order to ascertain who had broken the Divine 
command, it was applied to discover first the tribe, then the house¬ 
hold, then the guilty individual. When the children of Israel 
“ asked counsel of the Lord” which of the tribes should first go up 
to battle, it would seem from the narrative, that the lot was again 
resorted to. (Judges xx). Three centuries later, when the Jews 
desired a king, they were told by the prophet to present themselves 
before the Lord by their tribes, and by their thousands; and when 
all the tribes had come near, “ the tribe of Benjamin was taken,” and 
when the tribe of Benjamin came near by their families, “ the tribe 
of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken.” (1 Sam. 
chap, x.) Shortly after we find that “ Saul asked counsel of God. . . . 
But he answered him not that day.” Then, having drawn the people 
together, “ Saul said unto the Lord God of Israel, give a perfect lot. 
And Saul and Jonathan were taken: but the people escaped. And 
Saul said. Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jona¬ 
than was taken.” (1 Sam., chap, xiv.) In the reign of David, those 
who prophesied “ with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals,” or 
“ that were instructed in the song of the Lord,” to the number of 
" two hundred, fourscore and seven,” were separated for the service 
of the temple in like manner; that is, “ they cast lots, ward against 
ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar.” 
(1 Chron., chap, xxv.) 

The Book of Esther shows that the Medes and Persians also 
practised the lot. In order to compass the destruction of the Jews, 
Haman, the king’s favourite, caused them to “ cast Pur, that is, the 
lot, from day to day, and from month to month,” during an entire 
year. The Jews still observe the Feast of Purim, to commemorate 
their escape from this great danger. The mariners of Tarshish had 
recourse to the lot in the case of Jonah, (Jonah i., 7,) the scape-goat 
was chosen by lot, (Lev. xvi., 8-10,) the land was divided among the 
tribes and families of the Jews by lot, (Numbers xxvi., 55, 56; 
Ezekiel xxviii., 29,) and the sons of Aaron were divided into four- 
and-twenty orders by lot, (1 Chron., xxiv.) 

Passing by other passages in the Old Testament in which the lot is 
adverted to, I may remind the reader that in the New Testament we 
have it recorded that one of the twelve apostles was elected by the 
lot; and, as if to cut off all doubt that this was a mode of appeal to a 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


374 

sensible manifestation of a Spiritual Divine guidance, we read that 
“They,” (the Apostles,) “prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, whoknowest 
the hearts of all men, show which of these two thou hast chosen, that 
they may take part of this ministry and apostleship.” (Acts i., 23-26.) 

Solomon says :—“ The lot is cast into the lap : but the whole dis¬ 
posing thereof is of the Lord.” (Prov. xvi., 33.) On this principle, 
and following Scriptural precedents, various Christian churches—as 
the Bohemian, and the United Brethren, have on different times and 
occasions, adopted this practice. It was frequently resorted to by 
the early Methodists. TheUew Jerusalem Church, as an ecclesiastical 
organization, was determined on, and its first ministers appointed, 
in conformity with the decision of the lot , to which a solemn appeal had 
been made. The Irvingites chose their apostles in the same 
way. 

Some few instances are recorded in the Old Testament, in which 
it was believed the Divine will was made known by sensible signs. 
The Bev. W. Cooke remarks:—“One mode by which the Divine 
acceptance was given, was by fire, sometimes descending from 
heaven, and sometimes emanating from the glory of the Divine 
presence, and consuming the offering presented; and another mode 
was by the Divine glory increasing in volume, or augmenting in 
brightness.” These two modes were combined in the presence of the 
assembled people, in the instance noted in 2 Chron., iii., 1-7. We 
read of Gideon, that when the angel of the Lord spoke to him, he 
desired that a sign might be given in confirmation; upon which, 
having, in obedience to the angel, placed the flesh of a kid, and some 
unleavened cakes upon a rock, and poured out the broth, “ Then the 
angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, 
and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up 
fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened 
cakes; then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.” And 
for a further sign we read that “ Gideon said unto God, if thou wilt 
save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, behold I will place a 
piece of wool on the floor, and if the dew be on the fleece only, and 
it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt 
save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so; for he 
arose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and 
wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.” And yet 
again, after deprecating the Divine anger, Gideon said, “Let me 
prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it be dry only 


GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


375 


■upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God 
did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was 
dew on all the ground.” (Judges vi.) 

Another instance of a singular kind is related of Joash, the king 
of Israel. He came to Elisha, who had fallen sick of the sickness 
whereof he died, and wept over him. Elisha instructed him to take 
bow and arrows. “ And he said to the king of Israel, put thine 
hand upon the bow: and he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put 
his hand upon the king’s hands. And he said, open the window 
eastward, and he opened it. Then Elisha said, shoot, and he shot. 
And he said the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of 
deliverance from Syria; for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek 
till thou have consumed them. And he said unto the king of Israel, 
smite upon the ground : and he smote thrice, and stayed. And the 
man of God was wroth with him, and said, thou shouldest have 
smitten five or six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou 
hadst consumed it; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. * 
(2 Kings iii. 15-19.) 

In this class also should, perhaps, be included “ the likeness of a 
dove” which descended on the Christ after his baptism, and the 
cloven tongues of fire which sat upon each of the Apostles on the 
day of Pentecost, accompanied with the sound of “ a rushing mighty 
wind,” and the power of utterance in the several native tongues of 
those whom they addressed. This Pentecostal outpouring is, how¬ 
ever, I think, to be distinguished from the unknown tongue spoken 
of by Paul, which seems to have been a veritable Spirit-language, 
and to have been principally intended for the edification of the 
speaker, and as the sign of a spiritual presence. 

The Rev. W. Cooke remarks that,—“ The most usual symbol of 
God’s presence in ancient times was a fiery or luminous cloud, 

* Does not this narrative seem to countenance one of apparently the most extravagant beliefs of 
the middle ages ?—namely, the possibility of inflicting injury upon an absent person through an 
image or representation of him—not, indeed, as the result of what was done to the image, but of 
the strength and intensity of the will which accompanied the act—the image serving merely as an 
outward,°visible, focal centre, through which the Spiritual power in the will acted upon the 
Spiritual nature, and through that upon the physical organism of the person so represented ? 
There are some facts in human magnetism that have come to my knowledge which would appear 
to favour this hypothesis. I, of course, do not mean that the Scripture narrative I have instanced 
stands on the same level with the alleged class of facts adverted to; but if the former be true, 
that which lies within the compass of Spiritual power, operating through some occult Spiritual 
law, may possibly be applied to evil as well as to Divine ends. This, however, is merely a 
suggestion for consideration, thrown out by the way. 


376 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


which the Jews called the Shekinah,* and which, during the period 
of their economy, dwelt between the Cherubim and the Holy of 
Holies.” “Prom the radiant cloud of the Shekinah responsive 
oracles were given to declare Jehovah’s will, and to direct the people 
into the way of truth and of safety.” But if this symbol and evidence 
of the divine presence was specially manifested in the most sacred 
place of the temple, it does not appear to have been exclusively so; 
though concerning communications from the Divine glory mani¬ 
fested in cloud and flame, little is recorded, but probable allusions 
to it are frequent. The first distinct instance of it is in the third 
chapter of Exodus/)* Moses was alone at Mount Horeb, tending 
the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, when “ the angel of the Lord 
appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, 
and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not con¬ 
sumed.” And “ God called unto him out of the midst of the bush,” 
and commissioned him to bring forth the children of Israel out of 
Shortly after, we are told that when the Israelites went 
out of Egypt, “ The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a 
cloud, to lead them by the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to 
give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the 
pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before 
the people. (Exod. xxx. 20, 21.) 

It is conformable to Scripture to regard the phrase “the Lord 
went before them,” as signifying, not the immediate presence of 
Jehovah, but of his messenger and representative—the appointed 
guide of the Jewish people. Indeed, in the 14th chap. (v. 19) we 
are expressly told that it was “ the angel of God which went before 
the camp of Israel;” probably the same as is spoken of in chap, 
xxiv., 20-23, and as appeared to Moses in the burning bush, where 

God and “ the angel of the Lord” are words used as synonymous 
and interchangeable. So also with the Law given on Mount Sinai. 
In Exodus, (Chap, xix) we read:—“ The Lord said unto Moses.” 
“ Moses spake and God answered him by a voice.” Yet Stephen 
(Acts vii.) says of Moses “This is he that was in the church in 
the wilderness, with the angel which spake to him in Mount Sinai, 
and with our fathers; who received the lively oracles to give unto 

* Derived from the Hebrew word shakan— to dwell or abide. 

+ The Rev. W. Cooke contends that the cherubim with the flaming sword, or moving flame, in 
the east of the Garden of Eden, was the Shekinah. His work on this subject discusses at large 
many points which the reader may refer to with advantage. 


GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


377 


us.” And again, he says of their forefathers, that they “received 
the law by the disposition of Angels” It would seem that the Divine 
presence must always have been thus manifested representatively; 
for in his pure Divinity, “No man hath seen God at any time.” 
“No man can see God and live.” It is remarked by Mr. Feenald 
that:—“ The reason why so frequent mention is made of the ‘ Angels 
of the Lord,’ in the Old Testament Theophanies, is because the 
Lord took so full hold and possession of the angel thus used, that 
he became infilled with the divine presence, and was thus in a 
peculiar manner the Lord’s messenger.” The same view is main¬ 
tained by Swedenborg. 

A learned Divine remarks on this subject:—“There was some* 
times an intervening person between God and the prophet in the 
conveyance of the message. The revelation was made first to an 
angel, by him to the prophet, and then by the prophet to the Church. 
There are, of course, several instincts of this; but there are two un¬ 
deniable ones. One in the case of Daniel. His important prophecy 
of the seventy weeks was given him by the angel Gabriel. (Daniel 
ix. 21, &c). Those also that are related in the 11th and 12th chapters 
were revealed to him by a created angel, who was sent to him, and 
came to him to make him understand what should befall his people 
in the latter days. (Daniel x. 11, 14). The other instance is in the 
case of St. John, when he wrote the Revelation. His opening words 
to that book are these:—‘The revelation of Jesus Christ which 
God gave unto him, to show unto his sei'vants things which must 
shortly come to pass, and He sent and signified it by his angel unto 
his servant John.” Another instance, as it appears to me, may be 
found in the celebrated vision of Ezekiel (Ezek. xi. &c). And an¬ 
other certainly occurs in the person of St. Paul. (Acts xxvii. 23, &c.)” # 

We are told that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, where 
the Shehinah had rested, and whence he received the Law written 
on the tables of stone, “the skin of his face shone,” so that Aaron 
and the children of Israel “ were afraid to come nigh him.” (Exod. 
xxxiv. 29-35). And when Moses finished the work of the tabernacle, 
we read:—“ Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and 
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was no> 
able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud 
abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And 

* Modern Claims to the Gifts of the Spirit, stated and examined. By the Rev. William 
Goode, A.M. 


378 


HOW WAS DIVIDE REVELATION 


when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children 
of Israel went onward in all their journeys; but if the cloud were 
not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken 
up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and 
the fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel 
throughout all their journeys.” Exodus xl. 34-38, see also Numbers 
ix. 15-16, and x. 34-36. This manifestation in the wilderness con¬ 
tinued only about forty years, but as Mr. Cooke remarks :—“ The 
Shekinah between' the Cherubim, being a part of the Levitical 
economy, was continued with some intermission, until the temple 
of Jerusalem was destroyed, a period of about one thousand years.” 
Again, at the consecration of the temple, we read (1 Kings viii. 
10, 11) that “when the priests came out of the holy place the cloud 
filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to 
minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled 
the house of the Lord.” It may also be remarked that in the 
wonderful vision of Ezekiel, by the river Chebar, related in the first 
chapter, it was out of the midst of “ a great cloud, and a fire enfolding 
itself, and a brightness about it,” that the vision was presented. 

The most frequent mode of Divine communication mentioned in 
Scripture is that of the sensible communion of angels with men. 
There is no need here to give instances of this; you can scarcely 
open the Bible anywhere in the narrative portions whether in the 
Old Testament or the New, without finding them. Throughout, it 
recognizes their ministration as universal—one of the means by 
which the Divine government of the world is carried on ; there are 
even indications of their exercising a special guardianship over not 
only individuals but entire communities. Their very name, angel 
(messenger, or one sent) signifies how frequently they were (and 
doubtless are) employed as the messengers of God in works of mercy 
and messages of love. 

There is a mode of Divine communication of which a striking 
instance is given in the First Book of Chronicles. David enjoined 
upon Solomon to build a temple to the Lord, and “ Then David gave 
to Solomon his son, the pattern of the porch, and of the houses 
thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers 
thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the 
mercy-seat; and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit , of the 
courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round 
about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries 


GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


379 


of the dedicated things.” And after further describing the details 
of the temple and its accessories, he describes how all this was given 
him by the Spirit. “ All this, said David, the Lord made me under¬ 
stand in writing, by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pat¬ 
tern.” (Chap, xxviii. 11-19.)* Whether we here understand the 
word “ hand” in its literal sense, as a substantial, though not material, 
hand, or as merely significant of power, it is equally clear that the 
pattern of the temple was designed and executed by an invisible in¬ 
telligence ; David being merely the instrument or medium by which 
it was outwrought. That it may be understood, however, in its 
most simple and obvious sense is apparent from the narrative of 
Daniel (Chap, v.) who relates how, at the impious feast of Bel¬ 
shazzar, there “ came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote against 
the candlestick, upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, 
and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote,” and this, too, in 
presence of the king’s court; and the writing remained, so that the 
king sent for his wise men to read and interpret it, a task which 
Daniel alone was able to perform. Ezekiel also says, (chap. ii. 9,10), 
“ And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent to me, and lo, a roll 
of a book was therein. And he spread it before me, and it was writ¬ 
ten within and without, and there was written therein lamentations, 
and mourning, and woe.” Spirit-drawing and writing are evidently 
not modern inventions. 

Revelation appears to have been sometimes given by an audible 
voice. It was the voice of “ the angel of God” that called to Hagar 
in the wilderness. (Gen. xxi. 17.) It was by a voice that God an¬ 
swered Moses from Sinai; (Exod. xix. 19.) and in the tabernacle 
“ He heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off* the mercy- 
seat.” (Numbers vii. 89.) It was a voice from heaven that pro¬ 
claimed of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased,” (Matt. iii. 17.) It was a voice from heaven that in answer to 
the petition of Jesus, “Father, glorify thy name,” responded, “I 

* In the same book we read (chap, xxii, 6—10) that "the word of the Lord” came to David, 
forbidding him to build the temple, as he had contemplated, because he had “ shed much blood,” 
but assuring him that a son should be bora to him, who would build it. Does not the narrative in 
the text render it probable that this “ word of the Lord,” concerning the building of the temple, 
may have been given in the same manner as the pattern of the temple, &c., as above cited? 

In the Second Book of Chronicles, chap, xxi, we read—" There came a writing to him (Jehoram, 
king of Judah) from Elijah the Prophet;” but this reading is a pure conjecture, the simple fact in 
the Bible narrative being, that this writing came from Elijah as a prophetic warning to the king 
after the death, or rather the translation of the prophet. 


380 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (John xii. 28.) It 
was a voice accompanied by “ a light from heaven,” which arrested 
Saul on his journey to Damascus. (Acts ix.) While Peter was in 
“ a trance,” and saw heaven opened, “ there came a voice to him,” 
and spoke to him thrice. (Acts x. 0-15.) And “ when in the spirit 
on the Lord’s day,” John the Revelator heard behind “ a great voice 
as of a trumpet.” When we read that “The word of the Lord 
came,” or that “ God spake” to a person, we are not I think to con¬ 
clude that this was in every case by an audible voice addressed to 
the natural ear: we read in Jonah, “ And the Lord spake unto the 
fish,” but surely we are not to imagine that this was by an oral 
discourse addressed to the whale. The voice of God may be heard 
by the spiritual as well as by the outward ear. God spake to the fish 
by imparting to it an inward impulse, and he speaks to man through 
his spiritual senses and in the Divine impulses of the soul. In the in¬ 
stances I have cited of Peter, of Paul, and of John, it would seem from 
the context to have been not the natural, but the inward spiritual 
senses that were spoken to. This view appears to receive confirmation 
from the experience of Ezekiel, which he thus records:—“ And the 
hand of the Lord was there upon me, and He said unto me, Arise, go 
forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.” Then I arose, and 
went forth into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood 
there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar; and I fell 
on my face. “ Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my 
feet, and spake with me” (Ezekiel iii. 22-24) When some well- 
meaning friends remonstrate that all spiritual possession must of 
necessity be evil, it would be well for them to bear this passage 
in mind. 

And here we touch the central principle of Revelation; that which 
is most universal and deepest:—that outflow of the Divine into the 
human which we call inspiration. There are, perhaps, more crude 
and conflicting views on this subject than on any other within the 
province of the theologian. The fact is, that the modes of thought 
and expression of the Eastern, and especially of the ancient Hebrew, 
mind, are very different to those which prevail among ourselves. 
“ The Orientals,” says the eloquent W. J. Eox, “ affect not the logical 
forms as we do; a thought darts into their minds, and they receive 
it as something from without—something (if it bear marks of truth 
and beauty) from above. Hence, inspiration is to the Orientals what 
logic is to the Western world; they ascribe their thoughts directly 


GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


381 


to the great source of thought.” Let me give an illustration, to 
mark more distinctly this difference. “ It was at Rome (says 
Gibbon) on the 15th of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the 
ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing ves¬ 
pers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decliue 
and fall of the city first started to my mind.” How differently 
would this have been described by an old Hebrew prophet. After 
describing in lofty language the scene and its attendant circum¬ 
stances, instead of saying then “ the idea of writing, &c. first started 
to my mind,” he would have expressed himself in words like 
these:—“ Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, son of 
man, write thou the history of the decline and fall of this mighty 
empire.” The pious mind of the Jew reverently ascribed every 
noble thought and impulse to a Di vine source: it was to him “ the 
word of the Lord,” an immediate inspiration from heaven. He 
knew that—“There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the 
Almighty giveth him understanding.” (Job xxxii. 8.) The writers 
of the Bible would have had no sympathy with that narrow and 
mechanical theory which would limit inspiration to a definite 
period, or to the literature of a particular people. They taught 
that the Divine command was not hidden, nor far off. “ But the 
word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that 
thou mayest do it.” (Deut. xxx 11-14.) The prophet Jeremiah 
looked forward to the time when God’s law being “ put in their in¬ 
ward parts, and written in their hearts,” the necessity for outward 
teaching would be superseded, for all “ would then know the Lord, 
from the least unto the greatest.” (Jer. xxxi. 33, 34.) And the 
Apostle speaks of the Christian church, at Corinth, as a living 
epistle “written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God; 
not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.” (2 Cor. iii. 3). 

Theodore Parker says:—“The Hebrews did not make a sharp 
distinction between the miraculous and the common. All religious 
and moral powers were regarded as the direct gift of God; an out¬ 
pouring of his spirit. God teaches David to fight, commands Gideon 
to select his soldiers to arise in the night and attack the foe. The 
Lord set his enemies to fight among themselves. He teaches Beza- 
leel and Aholiab. They, and all the ingenious mechanics, are filled 
with ‘ the Spirit of God.’ The same ‘ Spirit of the Lord’ enables 

Samson to kill a lion and many men.It has never been rendered 

probable that the phrase, ‘ Thus saith the Lord,’ and its kindred 



382 


HOW WAS DIVINE REVELATION 


terms, were understood by tbe prophets or their hearers, to denote 
any miraculous agency in the case. They employ language with the 
greatest freedom. Thus a writer says, ‘ I saw Jehovah sitting upon a 
throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple, above it 
stood the seraphim.’ No thinking man would suppose the prophet 
designed to assert a fact, or that his countrymen understood him to 
do so. Certainly it is insulting to suppose a Christian would believe 
God sat on a throne with a troop of courtiers around him like a 
Persian king.” It is, however, not irrational to believe that such 
representations as are referred to were actually given, as a means 
whereby the natural mind might, in some measure, apprehend the 
spiritual truths they shadowed forth. 

“ Inspiration,” says Mr. Grindon, “ in its full and essential sense, 
comprises every form and variety of influx with which the Creator 
animates and instructs mankind. To attribute it simply to the ‘ holy 
men of God,’ who * spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,’ is 
a mistake. In the inspiration of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalmists, 
and the Evangelists, Divipe illumination is shown in its highest and 
immediate degree, not its only one. There are as many degrees 
below it, as there are grades of physical structure beneath the con¬ 
summate frame of man. God is continually visiting the souls of all 
human beings with a certain amount of inspiration; awarding to 
every individual the kind and quality suited to his capacity, and 
appointed sphere of duty, and replenishing him with new supplies 
according to his needs. St. Paul particularises some of these diver¬ 
sities of operations. (1 Cor., xii.) .... It is from the perception of 
this universal and constant influx from heaven, that we speak in daily 
converse of being inspired with hope, inspired with courage, inspired 
with veneration; also, of the inspiration of the musician, the inspir¬ 
ation of the poet. For in using such phrases, of course we recognize 
an inspirer, or we mean nothing. All come from the same source, 
and a single principle explains every variety.” To the same effect 
Goethe, (Conversations with Eckermann,) observes:—“No produc¬ 
tiveness of the highest kind, no remarkable discovery, no great 
thought, which bears fruit and has results, is in the power of anyone; 
such things are elevated above all human control; man. must consider 
them as unexpected gifts from above, as pure children of God, which 
he must receive and venerate with joyful thanks.” 

The heathen Seneca was wiser in this matter than many Christians. 
“ It is God,” he says, “who inspires us with great ideas and exalted 



GIVEN TO THE JEWS P 


383 


designs. A god inhabits every virtuous man; and without God 
there is no virtue.” An acute thinker, whom I have more than 
once quoted—the Rev. James Smith, remarks“ Inspiration is 
an agency graduated infinitely, with greater and less degrees of 
imperfection, and never was, is, or can be what the vulgar esteem 
it. The poets are nearer the truth in their estimate of the Divine 
Afflatus.” 

The Jews themselves, according to Philo and Josephus, admitted 
the Old Testament Scriptures to possess degrees of Inspiration. 
They divided them into the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings; 
claiming the highest inspiration for the Law, a less perfect inspira¬ 
tion for the Prophets, and a still feebler inspiration for the Writings. 

The Rev. Samuel Noble, in an appendix to his work on The 
Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures, says of “ the greater part” of 
the books of Scripture:—“ The inspiration by which these were 
written, was, we have endeavoured to shew, such as took an entire 
possession, for the time, of the faculties of the writers, and after 
they had written what was intended, it again would leave them, 
and then they would return into their ordinary state, in which they 
would not necessarily understand the meaning of the things which, 
in their ecstacy, they had spoken or written. The other books ad¬ 
mitted into our canon of Scripture, appear, for most part, to have 
been composed by persons, who were endowed with such a degree 
of illumination, by the Spirit of God, as to discern in the former 
class of writings the doctrines suited to the dispensation of Divine 
Truth under which they lived, and which, they were raised up to assist 
in establishing.” The foregoing description of the inspiration under 
which the Scriptures were given, equally applies, as to method, to 
spiritual communications in every age in which they are recorded; 
though this of course has nothing to do with the several values to 
be attached to them, which have to be determined not by the 
■manner in which they were given, but by the matter which they 
contain. 

We are reminded that prophecy (by which is meant not merely 
prediction, but a special illumination and power in Divine things) 
“ came not in old time (or as it is translated in the margin ‘ at any 
time’) by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Spirit.”* (2 Peter i. 21.) Nor was prophecy 

* The Greek term <pi£o/utvoi translated “moved,” means carried, away—rapt—transported— 
taken away entirely out of themselves and possessed entirely by the power of the Dime Spirit. 
—See Noble’s Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures. 


384 


HOW WAS DIVINE KEYED ATION 


limited to the writers of the Old or New Testament. We read in 
the Acts of the Apostles (xxi. 9) of a man who “ had four daughters, 
virgins, which did prophesy” (speak in or by the Spirit). We are told 
of King Saul that “ A company of prophets met him, and the Spirit 
of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.” (1 Sam. x. 
10). We are even told that “the prophets prophesied by Baal;” 
(Jer. ii. 8); or (as it is expresed in the 23rd chapter) “ they pro¬ 
phesied in Baal; and St. Paul exhorts the Corinthian Christians to 
“ covet to prophesy.” (1 Cor. xiv. 39). If Isaiah and Ezekiel were 
inspired, so also was “ Othniel, the son of Kenaz,” of whom we read 
that—“ The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged 
Israel, and went out to war; (Judges iii. 10). So too David, for he 
exclaims:—“ Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my 
hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” (Ps. cxliv. 1); and “ Bezaleel 
the son of Uri,” of whom we are told:—“ The Lord hath filled him 
with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in know¬ 
ledge, and in all manner of workmanship ;* and to devise curious 
works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting 
of stones to set them, and in carving of wood to make any manner 
of cunning work. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, 
both he and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 
Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of 
work of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the em¬ 
broiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen; and 
of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that 

devise cunning work. And Moses called Bezaleel and 

Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had 
put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him, up to come unto 
the work to do it. (Exodus, chaps xxxv. and xxxvi). Here then we 
see that, according to the Bible, the true judicial faculty, military 
ability, and even skill in handicraft is an inspiration, and that when 
a man was “ filled with the Spirit of God,” he knew it because his 
“ heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it ” Is not this 
a commentary on the text in the New Testament that “Every good 

* “That is,” says Bishop Patrick, “with an excellent spirit, or with Divine inspiration— 
skill in the arts of engraving, and setting jewels, and weaving, and needlework.” It is observed 
by Dr. Gill, that—“This was not au ordinary but an extraordinary gift of knowledge of these 
things, nor was it owing to a fruitful invention, nor to long study and contrivance, but it was by 
the immediate inspiration (i.e., in breathing) of the Spirit of God, which was necessary at this 
time, the Israelites being now in a general state of ignorance of all ingenious arts and sciences, 
having lived so many years in a state of servitude, and scarce knew anything but making of 
bricks.” 



GIVEN TO THE JEWS? 


385 


gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the 
Father of lights.” (James i. 17.) Even the old Greeks, heathen as 
they were, traced all that was excellent in their works, of whatever 
description, to the inspiration of the gods. 

We are too apt to forget that inspiration is various in kind, in 
degree, in purity, and in power; and that even when in the highest 
kind and fullest measure which human nature is capable of receiv¬ 
ing, it must still fall immeasurably short of that absolute and perfect 
truth which belongs only to Him who is the all-pekfect. It does 
not then follow, nor do the Scriptures teach, that because men are 
inspired, they are, therefore, infallible, any more than they are im¬ 
peccable ; there is much evidence to the contrary. All inspiration 
in its external unfolding, must of necessity partake of the limitation, 
imperfection, and peculiar quality of the medium—of the language, 
as well as of the human instrument, through which it is transmitted; 
as the sun’s rays are coloured and refracted by the atmosphere 
through which it passes; but in considering the Bible and its im¬ 
port, it may be well to observe that the tone of mind which delights 
in minute and verbal criticism, and the detection of small discrepan¬ 
cies, is one peculiarly liable to miss the Divine significance and 
mission which Providence has assigned to it, and to which the ages 
testify. In their haste men are too apt to overlook the fact, that 
while the form is human the spirit is divine. Of such it may be 
truly said that “ the letter killeth,” while to the devout and humble 
mind, pondering its lessons of Divine love and wisdom, the “ spirit 
giveth life.” 

The general conclusion to which our investigation leads us, is one 
in accordance with universal analogy—with all we know of God’s 
method as it is seen in his works. “ He maketh grass to grow for 
the cattle, and herb for the service of manbut this is done, not by 
an exercise of direct supernatural power which excludes all natural 
or mediate agency, but by the procession of the seasons, and the 
operation of those means which He has appointed. The more we 
learn, the more we are convinced that there is a unity in the Divine 
plan, and we are therefore prepared to find that in revealing Himself 
to His intelligent creatures, He does so, not by direct manifestation 
of Himself, for what man—what finite creature could stand for an 
instant in the full blaze of the Divine glory? but by appointed 
channels or media of communication. The various modes of Revela¬ 
tion we have found in Scripture, (and there may be others I have not 


386 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


instanced,) are all, it appears to me, phases and illustrations of this 
universal law. And surely to be employed, though but in the 
humblest way, in this ministration is the highest privilege of man or 
angel! For thus do we become one with God—fellow-workers with 
God and with Christ, in realizing that Divine consummation and 
fruition which shall be the response of the Everlasting to that uni* 
versal prayer of devout souls, which He has himself inspired— thy 

KINGDOM COME, AND THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN. What 

is man’s highest, ineffable distinction, but this, that he is a Spirit open 
to the Infinite Spirit? and what is Heaven but being thus infilled 
with the Divine presence and becoming the vehicle of God’s thought 
and action, of His character and joy ? 


APPENDIX B. 

GLIMPSES OF SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 

The belief in, and experience of Spirit-communion and influx, has 
prevailed in the East from the earliest time; not alone in Judea, but 
throughout the Orient, has this and kindred knowledges been 
received and practised, as the Bible, History, Tradition, Mythology, 
and extant monuments all attest. The oriental, in many respects 
differs from the occidental, mind; it is rather intuitive than scientific, 
meditative than logical; less immersed in nature, it appears more 
open to influx both of good and evil from the Spirit-world. The East 
has been the cradle of the religions and philosophies of the world, as 
the West has been of its sciences and practical arts. Its last religion 
—Islamism—claiming a hundred million disciples, equally with its 
earliest faith, is based on direct revelation from the Spiritual world, 
Washington Irving, in his Life of Mahomet, tells us:—“ He was 
repeatedly subject to trances and ecstacies .... and these were 
almost always followed by revelation.” “Often he would lose all 
consciousness of surrounding objects, and lie upon the ground as if 
insensible.” “When he followed his infant son, Ibrahim, to the 
grave, he invoked his spirit to hold fast to the foundations of the 
faith—the unity of God, and his own mission as a prophet. Even in 
his own dying hour, when there could be no longer a worldly motive 
for deceit, he still breathed the same religious devotion, and the 
same belief in his own apostolic mission. The last words that trem¬ 
bled on his lips, ejaculated a trust of ‘soon entering into blissful 
companionship with the prophets who had gone before him.” 

To gather up all that is known of Spiritualism, past and present, 



SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


387 


among the nations of the East, would be a most useful work,, which 
I should be glad to see performed by a competent hand. The object of 
the present sketch is simply to present the reader with a view of some 
of those random and casual glimpses of oriental Spiritualism of a more 
recent date, which we catch in the writings of missionaries and 
travellers, and in general literature. 

For the first glimpse I shall present, we are indebted to Dr. Wolff, 
“ late missionary to the Jews and Mohammedans in Persia, Bokhara, 
Cashmeer, &c.” In the subjoined piquant and curious narration from 
his Travels and Adventures , it will be seen that Wolff speaks of him¬ 
self in the third person, as he does throughout the volume:— 

“Now for something about magic; for, although the event about 
to be recorded happened after Wolff’s second journey into Egypt, he 
will give it in this place. Wolff was asked whether he believed in 
magic; to which he replied that he believed in everything that is 
found in the Bible; and even, though all the philosophers should 
ridicule him, he boldly repeats that he believes everything in the 
Bible; and the existence of witches and wizards is to be found there, 
of whom, doubtless, the devil is the originator; and Wolff believes 
that there are spirits in the air, for the Apostle tells us so; and Wolff 
believes also, that the devil has access, even now, into Heaven, to 
calumniate man, for so we read in the Book of Job, and in the 12th 
chapter of the Apocalypse. However, with regard to witchcraft, 
he has seen it with his own eyes, and here he tells the story. 

“ He was sitting one day at the table of Mr. Salt, dining with him. 
The guests who were invited were as follows : Bokhti, the Swedish 
Consul-General, a nasty atheist and infidel; Major Boss, of Bosstre- 
vor, in Ireland, a gentleman in every respect, and highly principled; 
Spurrier, a nice English gentleman; Wolff himself; and Caviglia, 
who was the only believer in magic there. Salt began to say, (his 
face leaning on his hand,) * I wish to know who has stolen a dozen of 
my silver spoons, a dozen forks, and a dozen knives.’ Caviglia said, 
‘If you want to know, you must send for the magician.’ Salt 
laughed, and so did they all, when Salt suddenly said, ‘ Well, we 
must gratify Caviglia.’ He then called out for Osman, a renegade 
Scotchman, who was employed in the British Consulate as janissary 
and cicerone for travellers. Osman came into the room, and Salt 
ordered him to go and fetch the magician. The magician came, with 
fiery sparkling eyes, and long hair, and Salt stated to hirn the case; 
on which he said, ‘ I shall come again to-morrow at noon, before 

c c 2 


388 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


•which, time you must either have procured a woman with child, or a 
boy seven years of age; either of whom will tell who has been the 
thief.’ Bokhti, the scoffing infidel, whom Salt never introduced to 
Wolff, for fear he should make a quarrel betwixt them, said, ‘ I am 
determined to unmask imposture, and, therefore, I shall bring to¬ 
morrow a boy who is not quite seven years of age, and who came a 
week ago from Leghorn. He has not stirred out of my house, nor 
does he know anybody, nor is he known to anybody, and he does not 
speak Arabic; him I will bring with me for the magician.’ 

“ The boy came at the time appointed, and all the party were again 
present, when the magician entered with a large pan in his hand, 
into which he poured some black colour, and mumbled some unintel¬ 
ligible words ; and then he said to the boy, ‘ Stretch out your hand.’ 
He said this in Arabic, which the boy did not understand. But 
Wolff interpreted what the magician had said, and then the boy 
stretched out his hand flat, when the magician put some of the black 
colour upon his palm, and said to him, ‘Do you see something?’ 
which was interpreted to the lad. The boy cooly, in his Italian 
manner, shrugged his shoulders and replied, * Vedo niente,’ (I see 
nothing.) Again the magician poured the coloured liquid, into his 
hand, and mumbled some words, and asked the boy again, ‘ Do you 
see something?’ and the boy said the second time, ‘I see nothing.’ 
Then the magician poured the colour into his hand the third time, 
and inquired, ‘ Do you see something ?’ On which the boy suddenly 
exclaimed—and it made every one of us turn pale and tremble in both 
knees, as if we were paralysed—‘ Jo vedo un uomo /’ (I see a man.) 
The fourth time the stuff was poured into his hand, when the boy 
loudly screamed out, ‘ Jo vedo un uomo con un capello /’ (I see a man 
with a hat;) and, in short, after a dozen times of inquiry, he des¬ 
cribed the man so minutely, that all present exclaimed, ‘ Santini is 
the thief!’ And when Santini’s room was searched, the spoons, &c., 
were found. 

“ Wolff must remark that no one, except the boy, could see any¬ 
thing ; all the other witnesses only saw the colour which the magician 
poured.” 

Mr. Lane, author of The Modern Egyptians, hearing of the fore¬ 
going adventure from Mr. Salt, was “desirous of witnessing a 
similar performance;” and was accordingly introduced to “the 
magician”—an Egyptian Sheykh, by the interpreter to the British 
Consulate. The Sheykh professed that his wonders were wrought 
by the agency of Spirits; and in preparing for the experiment Mr. 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


389 


Lane witnessed, the names of two of these spirits, together with 
certain forms of invocation, were written upon slips of paper, as in¬ 
strumental "to open the tloy’s eyes in a supernatural manner; to 
make his sight pierce into what is to us the invisible world.” Mr. 
Lane proceeds:— 

" I had prepared, by the magician’s direction, some frankincense 
and coriander-seed,* and a chafing-dish, with some live charcoal in 
it. These were now brought into the room, together with the boy 
who was to be employed : he had been called in, by my desire, from 
among some boys in the street, returning from a manufactory: and 
was about eight or nine years of age. In reply to my inquiry res¬ 
pecting the description of persons who could see in the magic mirror 
of ink, the magician said that they were a boy not arrived at puberty, 
a virgin, a black female slave, and a pregnant woman. The chafing- 
dish was placed before him and the boy; and the latter was placed 
on a seat. The magician now desired my servant to put some frank¬ 
incense and coriander-seed into the chafing-dish ; then, taking hold 
of the boy’s right hand, he drew in the palm of it a magic square. 
The figures which it contains are Arabic numerals. In the centre 
he poured a little ink, and desired the boy to look into it, and tell 
him if he could see his face reflected in it; the boy replied that he 
saw his face clearly. The magician, holding the boy’s hand all the 
while, told him to continue looking intently into the ink; and not to 
raise his head. 

« He then took one of the little strips of paper inscribed with the 
forms of invocation, and dropped it into the chafing-dish upon the 
burning coals and perfumes, which had already filled the room with 
their smoke; and as he did this, he commenced an indistinct mut¬ 
tering of words, which he continued during the whole process, ex¬ 
cepting when he had to ask the boy a question, or to tell him what 
he was to say. The piece of paper containing the words from the 
Kur-an, he placed inside the fore part of the boy’s bakee-yeh or skull¬ 
cap. He then asked him if he saw anything in the ink, and was 
answered ‘No:’ but about a minute after, the boy, trembling, and 
seeming much frightened, said, ‘ I see a man sweeping the ground.* 
* When he has done sweeping,’ said the magician, ‘ tell me. Pre¬ 
sently the boy said, ‘ He has done.’ The magician then again inter¬ 
rupted his muttering to ask the boy if he knew what a beyrak (or 
flag) was; and being answered ‘Yes,’ desired him to say, ‘Bring a 

benzoin to be added to these.” 


* “He generally requires some 


390 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


flag.’ The boy did so, and soon said, ‘He has brought a flag.’ 
‘What colour is it?’ asked the magician: the boy replied, ‘Red.’ 
He was told to call for another flag, which he did; and soon after he 
said that he saw another brought, and that it was black. In like 
manner he was told to call for a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and 
seventh; which he described as being successively brought before 
him, specifying their colours as white, green, black, red, and blue. 
The magician then asked him (as he did, also, each time that a new 
flag was described as being brought), ‘ How many flags have you 
now before you ?’ ‘ Seven,’ answered the boy. While this was 

going on, the magician put the second and third of the small strips 
of paper upon which the forms of invocation were written, into the 
chafing-dish; and fresh frankincense and coriander-seed having been 
repeatedly added, the fumes became painful to the eyes. When the 
boy had described the seven flags as appearing to him, he was 
desired to say, ‘Bring the Sultan’s tent, and pitch it.’ This he did; 
and in about a minute after, he said, ‘ Some men have brought the 
tent, a large green tent: they are pitching it;’ and presently he 
added, ‘ They have set it up.’ ‘ How,’ said the magician, * order the 
soldiers to come, and to pitch their camp around the tent of the 
Sultan.’ The boy did as he was desired, and immediately said, ‘ I 
see a great many soldiers, with their tents: they have pitched their 
tents.’ He was then told to order that the soldiers should be drawn 
up in ranks; and, having done so, he presently said that he saw 
them thus arranged. The magician had put the fourth of the little 
strips of paper into the chafing-dish; and soon after, he did the 
same with the fifth. He now said, ‘Tell some of the people to 
bring a bull.’ The boy gave the order required, and said, * I see a 
bull; it is red; four men are dragging it along, and three are beat¬ 
ing it.’ He was told to desire them to kill it, and cut it up, and 
to put the meat in saucepans, and cook it. He did as he was 
directed, and described these operations as apparently performed 
before his eyes. ‘ Tell the soldiers,’ said the magician, * to eat it.’ 
The boy did so, and said, ‘ They are eating it. They have done, and 
are washing their hands.’ The magician then told him to call for 
the Sultan; and the boy having done this, said, ‘ I see the Sultan 
riding to his tent, on a bay horse; and he has on his head a high red 
cap : he has alighted at his tent, and sat down within it.’ ‘ Desire 
them to bring coffee to the Sultan,’ said the magician, ‘ and to form 
the court.’ These orders were given by the boy, and he said that he 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


391 


saw them performed. The magician had put the last of the six 
little strips of paper into the chafing-dish. In his mutterings I dis¬ 
tinguished nothing but the words of the written invocation fre¬ 
quently repeated, excepting on two or three occasions, when I 
heard him say, ‘If they demand information, inform them; and be 
ye veracious ’ But much that he repeated was inaudible, and as I 
did not ask him to teach me his art, I do not pretend to assert that 
I am fully acquainted with his invocations. 

“ He now addressed himself to me, and asked me if I wished the 
boy to see any person who was absent or dead. I named Lord 
Nelson; of whom the boy had evidently never heard, for it was 
with much difl&culty that he pronounced the name, after several 
trials. The magician desired the boy to say to the Sultan My 
master salutes thee, and desires thee to bring Lord Nelson: bring 
him before my eyes, that I may see him, speedily.’ The boy then 
said so, and almost immediately added, ‘A messenger is gone, and 
has returned, and brought a man dressed in a black suit of Euro¬ 
pean clothes : the man has lost his left arm.’ He then paused for a 
moment or two, and looking more intently and more closely into 
the ink, said, ‘No, he has not lost his left arm; but it is placed to 
his breast.’ This correction made his description more striking 
than it had been without it, since Lord Nelson generally had his 
empty sleeve attached to the breast of his coat: but it was the right 
arm that he had lost. Without saying that I suspected the boy had 
made a mistake, I asked the magician whether the objects appeared 
in the ink as if actually before the eyes, or as if in a glass, which 
makes the right appear the left. He answered, that they appeared 
as in a mirror. This rendered the boy’s description faultless* 

«The next person I called for was a native of Egypt, who has 
been for many years resident in England, where he has adopted 
our dress; and who had been long confined to his bed by illness 
before I embarked for this country. I thought that his name, one 
not very uncommon in Egypt, might make the boy describe him m- 


* “Whenever I desired the boy to call for any person to appear, I paid particular attention 
both to the magician and to ’Osm&n. The latter gave no direction either b y word or sign; and 
indeed, he was generally unacquainted with the personal appearance ot the individual called for. 
I took care that he had no previous communication with the boys; and have seen the expenmen 
fail when he could have given directions to them, or to the magician In short, it wou d e 
difficult to conceive any precaution which I did not take. It is important to add that the dialect 
of the magician was more intelligible to me than to the boy. When /understood him perfect y at 
once he was sometimes obliged to vary his words to make the boy comprehend what he said. 


392 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


correctly; though another boy, on the former visit of the magician, 
had described this same person as wearing a European dress, like 
that in which I last saw him. In the present case the boy said, 
‘ Here is a man brought on a kind of bier, and wrapped up in a 
sheet.’ This description would suit, supposing the person in ques¬ 
tion to be still confined to his bed, or if he be dead.* The boy 
described his face as covered, and was told to order that it should 
be uncovered. This he did, and then said, ‘ His face is pale; and he 
has moustaches, but no beard which is correct. 

“ Several other persons were successively called for; but the boy’s 
descriptions of them were imperfect, though not altogether incor¬ 
rect. He represented each object as appearing less distinct than 
the preceding one; as if his sight were gradually becoming dim: 
he was a minute, or more, before he could give any description of 
the persons he professed to see towards the close of the perfor¬ 
mance ; and the magician said it was useless to proceed with him. 
Another boy was then brought in, and the magic square, &c., made 
in his hand; but he could see nothing. The magician said he was 
too old. 

“ Though completely puzzled, I was somewhat disappointed with 
his performances, for they fell short of what he had accomplished, 
in many instances, in presence of certain of my friends and country¬ 
men. On one of these occasions, an Englishman present ridiculed 
the performance, and said that nothing would satisfy him but a 
correct description of the appearance of his own father; of whom, 
he was sure, no one of the company had any knowledge. The boy, 
accordingly, having called by name for the person alluded to, de¬ 
scribed a man in a Frank dress, with his hand placed to his head, 
wearing spectacles, and with one foot on the ground, and the other 
raised behind him, as if he were stepping down from a seat. The 
description was exactly true in every respect: the peculiar position 
of the hand was occasioned by an almost constant head-ache; and 
that of the foot or leg, by a stiff knee, caused by a fall from, a horse, 
in hunting. I am assured that, on this occasion, the boy accurately 
described each person and thing that was called for. On another 
occasion, Shakespeare was described with the most minute correct¬ 
ness, both as to person and dress; and I might add several other 

* “A few months after this was written, I had the pleasure pf hearing that the person here 
alluded to was in better health. Whether he was confined to his bed at the time when this 
experiment was performed, I have not been able to ascertain.” 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


393 


cases in which the same magician has excited astonishment in the 
sober minds of Englishmen of my acquaintance. A short time 
since, after performing in the usual manner, by means of a boy, he 
prepared the magic mirror in the hand of a young English lady, 
who, on looking into it for a little while, said that she saw a broom 
sweeping the ground without anybody holding it, and was so much 
frightened that she would look no longer. 

“I have stated these facts partly from my own experience, and 
partly as they come to my knowledge on the authority of respectable 
persons. The reader may be tempted to think that, in each instance, 
the boy saw images produced by some reflection in the ink ; but 
this was evidently not the case; or that he was a confederate, or 
guided by leading questions. That there was no collusion, I satis* 
factorily ascertained, by selecting the boy who performed the part 
above described in my presence from a number of others passing 
by in the street, and by his rejecting a present which I afterwards 
offered him with the view of inducing him to confess that he did 
not really see what he had professed to have seen. I tried the 
veracity of another boy on a subsequent occasion in the same manner, 
and the result was the same. The experiment often entirely fails ; 
but when the boy employed is right in one case, he generally is so 
in all: when he gives, at first, an account altogether wrong, the 
magician usually dismisses him at once, saying that he is too old. 
The perfumes, or excited imagination, or fear, may be supposed to 
affect the vision of the boy who describes objects as appearing to 
him in the ink; but, if so, why does he see exactly what is required, 
and objects of which he can have had no previous particular notion? 
Neither I nor others have been able to discover any clue by which 
to penetrate the mystery.*” 

Mrs. Poole, sister of Mr. Lane, writing of this “ supposed mys¬ 
tery” more than two years after, in her Englishwoman m Egypt, 
says :—“ My brother thinks be can now explain, at least so far as 
to satisfy any reasonable person, respecting most, if not all, of the 

* “It has been suggested, in the Quarterly Review, No. 117, that the performances were 
effected hv means of pictures and a concave mirror ; and that the images of the former were 
reflected from the surface of the mirror, and received on a cloud of smoke under the eyes of the 
boy. This, however, I cannot admit, because such means could not have been employed without 
my perceiving them; nor would the images be reversed (unless the pictures were so) by being 
reflected from the surface of a mirror, and received upon a second surface; for the boy was 
looking down upon the palm of his hand, so that an image could not be formed upon the smoke 
(which was copious, but not dense) between his eye and the supposed mirror.” 


394 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


most surprising of the feats to which I have alluded.” The explan¬ 
ation given is, “ that his successes are to be attributed chiefly to 
the interpreter, but partly also to leading questions, and partly to 
mere guessing.” But “ Two travellers, one of them M. Leon De La- 
borde, the other an Englishman, both instructed by the magician 
of whom I am speaking, are stated to have succeeded in performing 
similar feats.” This is indeed a difficulty, and it is not at all lessened 
by the supposition “ that those feats were accomplished by means 
of the suggestion of the interpreter or interpreters.” Mrs. Crowe 
remarks:— 

“ Monsieur Laborde purchased the secret of Achmed, who said he 
had learnt it from two. celebrated Sheyks of his own country, which 
was Algiers. Mons. L. found it connected both with physics and 
magnetism, and he practised it himself afterwards with perfect 
success, and he affirms positively, that under the influence of a par¬ 
ticular organization, and certain ceremonies, amongst which he 
cannot distinguish which are indispensable and which are not, that 
children without fraud or collusion can see as through a window, 
or peep-hole, people moving, who appear and disappear at command, 
and with whom they hold communications—and they remember 
everything after the operation. He says, ‘ I narrate, but explain 
nothing; I produced those effects, but cannot comprehend them; 
I only affirm in the most positive manner, that what I relate is true. 
I performed the experiment in various places, with various subjects, 
before numerous witnesses, in my room or other rooms, in the open 
air, and even in a boat on the Nile. The exactitude and detailed 
descriptions of persons, places, and scenes, could by no possibility 
be feigned.’ 

“ Moreover Baron Dupotet has very lately succeeded in obtaining 
these phenomena in Paris, from persons, not somnambulic, selected 
from his audience; the chief difference being that they did not 
recollect what they had seen when the crisis was over.” 

The “Englishman” mentioned by Mrs. Poole is probably the 
same “ English gentleman of high character, himself one of the 
high-witnesses of the feats of the modern Maugraby,” referred 
to in the Quarterly Review as the writer of a paper on this subject, 
appended by the editor to a review of Mr. Lane’s book. In this 
paper the writer says:— 

“ This I am prepared to assert—that no collusion exists between 
the magician and the boy; and this is the decided conviction of all 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


395 


those who have taken any pains to enquire into the fact. Though 
many eye-witnesses, fully capable of suggesting and imagining 
different means used for such a purpose, have acknowledged the 
utter impossibility of accounting for it, yet we frequently meet 
with persons in this country who have never seen the magician 
ready to offer some crude notions of their own for explaining it, and 
without hearing half the details, imagining, with wonderful sim¬ 
plicity, that they have discovered the optical delusion, or the ordinary 
sleight of hand, by which it is performed. But let it be remembered, 
that conjurors areas common in Egypt as in England, more anciently 
known there, and quite as dexterous as ours; yet the Cairenes do 
not pretend that their tricks are the effect of magic, nor do they 
confound the performances of the magician and the conjuror. The 
magician does not make a livelihood by them: whenever I engaged 
him, he came rather as a matter of favour, and only required enough 
to cover the expense of the incense. He was of the medical profes¬ 
sion, and was attached to the Cadi’s court.” 

He also gives the following particulars of an interview, communi¬ 
cated to him “ by more than one person present on the occasion.” 
One of the boys made use of to see in this “magic mirror of ink,” 
(about half-a-teaspoonful, forming a liquid ball about the size of a 
pistol bullet, poured into the boy’s hand), was a son of M. Massora, 
the dragoman of the French Consulate, and described as “ dull and 
heavy.” After the usual preliminaries, the boy saw in the ink the 
sweeper, the seven flags, the troops, the tents, and the Sultan, as 
had been seen by another boy on the occasion described by Mr 
Lane; and then:— 

“ The magician observed to the company, ‘ Whatever question you 
wish to ask, now is the time.’ M. De Laborde, who would not tell any 
one of the party for whom he was about to ask, in order to obviate 
the possibility of collusion, demanded —‘le Due de la Riviere.’ The 
boy repeated the order. * A cavass,’ he said, ‘ is gone for him.’ He 
was brought into the presence of the Sultan, dressed in uniform, 
with silver lace round his collar and cuffs, and round his hat. M. 
De Laborde observed, ‘This is an extraordinary coincidence.’ Mon¬ 
sieur de la Kiviere is the only officer in France, whose uniform is 
decorated with silver lace. It is the uniform of le grand venewr. The 
magician then placed his hand over the boy’s eyes, and took him 
from his seat. The boy, whose countenance had brightened whilst 
seeing these strange sights, endeavoured by looking again into the 


396 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


ink in his hand, to see them once more, but in vain. During the 
operation, when the first man appeared, he had explained how he 
was dressed, and told his colours and forms of the flags as they 
appeared, with the eagerness of delight. When, therefore, all was 
over, the party questioned him on the subject, and asked him how 
he knew it was the Sultan; he replied, ‘ his dress was magnificent, 
his attendants stood with their arms crossed over their breast; they 
served him in the tent; he took the post of honour on the divan ; his 
pipes and coffee-cup-stands were brilliant with diamonds. ‘ But 
how,’ he was asked, ‘ did you know that the Sultan sent for the 
duke?’ The boy’s expression was, ‘I saw the lips move to the 
words, and heard them in my ear.’ ” 

Another time, a Nubian boy was brought in, and: 

«One of the party asked for Shakspcare. On seeing the figure 
which appeared to him, the boy burst into a laugh; and when asked 
at what he laughed, he said, * There is a man who has his beard 
under his lip, and not on his chin; and he wears on his head a 
caudeel,’ (a glass lamp shaped like a tumbler, with a narrow bottom,) 
‘upside down’ ‘Where did he live?’ asked another; the answer 
was, * In an island.’ ” 

Much has been said about the failures which sometimes occurred; 
but, as is justly remarked by a reviewer, these “ corroborate rather 
than weaken the effect produced,” as they “ furnish an additional 
testimony to the absence of all collusion,” and “ controvert the idea 
of legerdemain.” Mr. Salt, Dr. Wolff, Lord Prudhoe, Major Felix, 
and others, who subjected the Sheykh to long and repeated examin¬ 
ations, were all impressed with the belief that what occurred in their 
presence was effected by supernatural power. 

When Harriet Martineatj visited Egypt in 1847, she procured a 
visit from the Sheykh Mah’greb’y, at which the nephews of Mr. Lane 
and other English people were present, and though she pronounced 
the experiments witnessed by her, “ total failures,” she “ arrived at 
the conclusion,” which she says, “ I now hold—that it is an affair of 
mesmerism, and that the magician himself probably does not know 
it. If the truth were understood, I have no doubt that it would 
appear, that in the first instance, a capital clairvoyant did see and 
tell the things declared, under the influence of the old man’s mesme¬ 
ric power, and when there was accidentally a rapport established 
between the questioner and the boy.” And she believes “ the magi¬ 
cian did not understand the causes either of his success or failure.” 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


397 


With a little persuasion, he was induced to allow her to take the place 
of the boy, and she says :— 

“ In two minutes the sensation came. Presently I began to see 
such odd things in the pool of ink—it grew so large before my aching 
eyes, and showed such strange moving shadows, and clear symme¬ 
trical figures and intersecting lines, that I felt uncertain how long I 
could command my thoughts and words; and, considering the 
number of strangers present, I thought it more prudent to shake off 
the influence while I could, than to pursue the experiment. The 
perfumes might have some effect, though I was insensible to them, 
(having no sense of smell,) and so might the dead silence, and my 
steadfast gazing into the ink. But that there was a strong mesmeric 
influence present I am certain .”—Eastern Life, Past and Present. 

It is very likely that there was this mesmeric influence; its presence, 
however, is not at all incompatible with the concurrent and control¬ 
ling agency of a spiritual power; for there is abundant evidence to 
show that spiritual operations are largely conducted by mesmeric 
processes. But the discussion of this point would lead too far, and 
the reader has probably had more than enough of “ the magician” 
and his doings. Mr. Lane prefaces the foregoing account of him, 
with observing that—“ Among the Egyptians, magic is of two kinds, 

’iVwee (or high,) and sooflee (or low.) The ’il’wee is said to be a 
science founded on the agency of God, and of his angels and good 
genii, and on other lawful mysteries; to be always employed for good 

purposes, and only attained and practised by men of probity. 

The sooflee is believed to depend on the agency of the devil, and evil 
spirits and unbelieving genii; and to be used for bad purposes, and 
by bad men.” He speaks of a learned Sheykh, named Isma’ee’l 
Ab’oo Roo-oo’s, as “ very highly celebrated” for his knowledge of the 
’ iVwee , (or high magic.) “ Even the more learned and sober of the 
people of this country, relate most incredible stories of his magical 
skill; for which some of them account by his having Ginn at his 
service, whom he could mentally consult and command.” “ He is 
said to have always employed this supernatural power, either for 
good or innocent purposes; and to have been much favoured by the 
present Ba’sha, who, some say, often consulted him.” Let me give 
the reader a taste of his quality. Mr. Lane says :— 

“ One of the most sensible of my Moos’lim friends,. in this place 
(Cairo), informs me that he once visited Ab’oo Roo-oo’s, at Desoo’ck, 
in company with the Sheykh El-Emee’r, son of the Sheykh El- 



SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


398 

Emee’r El-Kebee’r, Sheykh of the sect of Ma’likees. My friend’s 
companion asked their host to show them some proof of his skill in 
magic; and the latter complied with the request, ‘ Let coffee be 
served to ns,’ said the Sheykh El-Emee’r, ‘in my fathers set of 
finga’ns and zurfs, which are at Musr.’ They waited a few minutes; 
and then the coffee was brought; and the Sheykh El-Emee’r looked 
at the finga’ns and zurfs, and said they were certainly his father’s. 
He was next treated with sherbet, in what he declared himself satis¬ 
fied were his father’s ckool’lehs. He then wrote a letter to his 
father, and giving it to Ab’oo Poo-oo’s, asked him to procure an 
answer to it. The magician took the letter, placed it behind a cushion 
of his deewa’n, and, a few minutes after, removing the cushion, 
showed him that this letter was gone, and that another was in its 
place. The Sheykh El-Emee’r took the letter; opened and read it; 
and found in it, in a handwriting which, he said, he could have sworn 
to be that of his father, a complete answer to what he had written, 
and an account of the state of his family which he proved, on his 
return to Cairo, a few days after, to be perfectly true.” 

It is remarked by the Quarterly Review, that “ the Ginn or Genii 
continue now among the Arabs to act the same part, for the good 
or evil of the human race, as they are described to have done in 
the Thousand and One Nights.” The same may be said of the 
“ saints” or “ good spirits, and the efreets” —guilty, earth-bound 
ghosts who haunt the scenes of their former wickedness and earthly 
passions. These latter seem to be more prevalent in the East, even 
than in Europe. Mrs. Poole, to whom I have already referred, 
though a “strong-minded lady,” not at all given to believe in 
“ ghosts ” and “ haunted houses,” yet gives one of the strangest 
accounts of this kind, as occurring in her house at Cairo. It has 
some features in it peculiar to the East, but the efreet was accom¬ 
panied by those mysterious “ violent knockings at short intervals,” 
with “heavy trampling” by invisible feet, with which readers 
of ghostly narratives are familiar. Hot only was she in conse¬ 
quence of these disturbances driven from the house, but “ six fami¬ 
lies succeeded each other in it in as many weeksand all were 
driven out as she and her predecessors had been “ by most obstinate 
persecutions, not only during the nights, but in broad day-light, of 
so violent a description, that the windows were all broken in a large 
upper chamber, our favourite room,” &c. The house, it may be ob¬ 
served, had been the scene of the murder of a poor tradesman and 
two slaves by its former inhabitant and proprietor. 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


399 


Turning from Egypt to India, I find it remarked in a work on The 
Hindoos, in the “Library of Entertaining Knowledge;” that—"In 
his belief in sorcery and witchcraft, the Hindoo resembles the great 
majority of mankind,” and that “the belief in ghosts and apparitions 
has prevailed in all ages and countries; but in India, the World of 
Spirits is as present to the imaginations of men as' the world of 
matter by which we are surrounded.” Some of their diviners, we 
are told, “ Chaunt Incantations to the gods until their voice almost 
fails, become as if intoxicated or mad, and are believed to be in¬ 
spired ;” and “ They possess the power of putting malevolent spirits 
to flight.” A writer in the Saturday Magazine, observes that—“ The 
Indian jugglers by the natives generally are supposed to have inter¬ 
course with demons.” Many of their feats are confessedly per¬ 
formed by the aid of Spirits, though, of course, others are simply 
done by legerdemain. 

The Karens are a people who inhabit all the mountain regions of 
the southern and eastern portions of Burmah proper, and all parts 
of the Tenasserim provinces extending into the western portions of 
Siam, and thence northward among the Shyans. Of their moral 
character, the Rev. Howard Malcolm, who was sent out on a mis¬ 
sionary tour by the American Baptist Mission, says:—“ Their do¬ 
mestic manners are less exceptionable than those of most heathen_ 

truth, integrity, and hospitality, are universal. For a Karen to lie 
or cheat, is scarcely known. Females are in no respect degraded.” 
He tells us, that—“ Their only religious teachers are a sort of pro¬ 
phets called Bokhoos, who predict events, and are greatly venerated 
by the people.” “Besides these, is a set of wizards called Wees; 
who are far less respectable, but more numerous and more dreaded. 
They pretend to cure diseases, to know men’s thoughts, and to 
converse with the Spirits.” 

The Rev. Dr. Francis Mason, who has resided among these people 
as a Baptist Missionary for more than a quarter of a century, in an 
article in the Examiner, a Baptist paper of New York, gives an ac¬ 
count of Spiritualism among the Karens, with whom he was sta¬ 
tioned. “ The effort to obtain a knowledge of the future from the 
spirits of the dead,” he denounces as an “unhallowed practice.” 
And he says, “ I have ever dealt with it—not by examining the evi¬ 
dences for or against the alleged facts of Spirits communicating 
with men, but by forbidding all attempts to procure such informa¬ 
tion, whether true or false.” A practice quite accordant with the 


400 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


canon of current orthodoxy; but at present we are concerned with 
his facts rather than his philosophy. Let us then hear his testi¬ 
mony : as he is no friendly witness, it will, perhaps, be received with 
less suspicion. He tells us, that “ Spiritualism has existed among 
the Karens from time immemorial:—” 

“ The Karens believe that the spirits of the dead are ever abroad 
on the earth. ‘ Children and great grand-children' said the elders, 

«the dead are among us. Nothing separates us from them but a 
white veil. They are here, but we see them not.’ Other genera of 
spiritual beings are supposed to dwell also on the earth; and a few 
gifted ones (mediums, in modern language), have eyes to see into 
the Spiritual-world, and power to hold converse with particular 
Spirits. One man told my assistant—he professed to believe in 
Christianity, but was not a member of the Church—that when going 
to Matah he saw on the way a company of evil spirits encamped in 
booths. The next year, when he passed the same way, he found 
they had built a village, at their former encampment. They had a 
chief over them, and he had built himself a house, larger than 
the rest, precisely on the model of the teacher’s without, but within 
divided by seven white curtains into as many apartments. The 
whole village was encircled by a cheval-de-frise of dead men’s bones. 
At another time, he saw an evil spirit that had built a dwelling 
near the chapel at Matah, and was engaged with a company of de¬ 
pendants in planting pointed stakes of dead men’s bones round it. 
The man called out to the spirit, ‘ What do you mean by setting 
down so many stakes here?’ The spirit was silent, but he made 
his followers pull up a part of the stakes. 

“ Another individual had a familiar spirit that he consulted, and 
with which he conversed; but on hearing the Gospel, he professed 
to become converted, and had no more communication with his 
spirit. It had left him, he said ; it spoke to him no more. After a 
protracted trial, I baptised him. I watched his case with much in¬ 
terest, and for several years, he led an unimpeachable Christian 
life; but on losing his religious zeal, and disagreeing with some of 
the Church members he removed to a distant village, where he could 
not attend the services of the Sabbath; and it was soon after re¬ 
ported that he had communications with his familiar spirit again. 
I sent a native preacher to visit him. The man said, he heard the 
voice which had conversed with him formerly, but it spoke very 
differently. Its language was exceedingly pleasant to hear, and pro- 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


401 


duced great brokenness of heart. It said: ‘ Love each other. Act 
righteously; act uprightly,’ with other exhortations such as he had 
heard from the teachers. An assistant was placed in the village 
near him, when the spirit left him again, and ever since he has 
maintained the character of a consistent Christian. 

“ Several years ago, while preaching in a grove near a village of 
heathen Pwos, a man fell down in the midst of the sermon, in what 
I thought to be an epileptic fit; but after the service, I was told 
the man was not sick, but had a familiar spirit, and that the spirit 
had come upon him to forbid all the people to listen to me, for I 
preached falsehood. I visited him while under the influence of the 
spirit, and heard him sing out his denunciations against those that 
should receive the Gospel, like one half frantic, while his wife stood 
over him with a light, for it was said he would die if left without one. 
The man was subsequently converted, became a useful assistant, and 
was ordained and settled over a church within the last two or three 
years. He told me he could not account for his former exercises, 
but that it certainly appeared to him as if a spirit spoke, and he 
must tell what was communicated. He has not, so far as I an; 
aware, had any communication with the unseen world since he first 
professed faith in Christ .... 

“ Mr. Yan Meter, writing in a recent communication from Bas- 
sein, of the irregularities in the Church, says: ‘ The most serious 
case is in a strong tendency of a formerly substantial church member 
to the views and practices of the ‘ Spiritualists.’ He pretends that 
communications are made to him by angels, and especially by Tway 
Poll, his former pastor, who died in 1853.’ It is no new thing with 
the Karens, but one of their old errors, and the most difficult te 
eradicate that I ever had to grapple with among them.” 

Here is a curious custom, once prevalent amongst the Cochin 
Chinese, and recorded by Dr. Brownson, as he states, “ on good au¬ 
thority.” 

“ In Cochin China, in the time of the predecessors of Gia-long, it 
was a custom in the province of Xu-Ngue, on certain solemnities, to 
invite the most celebrated tutelar genii of the towns and villages of 
the kingdom to games and a public trial of their strength. A long 
and heavy barque, with eight benches of oars, was placed dry in the 
centre of a large hall, and the trial consisted in seeing which of these 
could move it farthest, or with the greatest ease. The judges and 
spectators took their stand at a little distance, and saw, as they 

D D 


402 


spiritualism: in the ea.st. 


called the names and titles of the genii placed on the barque, the 
huge machine tip one side and then the other, and finally advance 
and then recede. Some of the genii would push it forward several 
feet, others only a few inches. 

M. Hue, the Roman Catholic missionary, in his Travels in Thibet, 
Tartary, and China, and in his latter works, The Chinese Empire, 
and Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet, gives us repeated 
glimpses of Spiritualism in that region of the world. In his account 
of the embassy of Rubruk—the French Ambassador to the Khan of 
Tartary in the thirteenth century, we find this account of “ magic 
by rapping on a tablewhich evidently, therefore, cannot be now 
patented as an original invention:—“ When they (the soothsayers 
to the Tartar Emperor) were interrogated, they evoked their demons 
(spirits) by the sound of the Tambourine, shaking it furiously; then 
falling into an ecstasy, they feigned to receive answers from their 
familiar spirits, and proclaimed them as oracles. It is rather curious, 
too, that table-rapping and table-turning were in use in the thirteenth 
century among these Mongols in the wilds of Tartary. Rubruk 
himself witnessed an instance of the kind. On the eve of the Ascen¬ 
sion, when the mother of Mangou, feeling very ill, the first sooth¬ 
sayer was summoned for consultation, he ‘ performed some magic 
by rapping on a table.’ ” 

Of that singular people, numbering one third of the world’s popu¬ 
lation, whose country is now for the first time being opened to 
Western commerce and civilization, M. Hue furnishes many very 
interesting particulars. Though their philosophy and their aims 
are almost wholly of a secular kind, and their religion, “having 
fallen into the abyss of scepticism,” has degenerated into little else 
than formalism and official ceremony, they yet recognize spiritual 
intervention as a fact, and it is an element in their religious systems. 
Of their religions—beside that of Boodh, which is more properly the 
religion of India—“The first and most ancient is called Jou-Khiao, 
the doctrine of the lettered, of which Confucius is regarded as the 
reformer and patriarch.” The followers of this system are very re¬ 
gardful of certain rites and ceremonies which they pay to their an¬ 
cestors, and especially to Confucius. “ They have temples, chapels, 
and oratories dedicated to them, in which are tables of chesnut-wood 
inscribed with large characters,—‘ Throne (or seat) of the soul or 
spirit’ of such or such a one, with the name and title of the person 
in question.” The rites—which I need not describe—all imply the 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


403 


presence and cognisance of the spirit in whose honour they are per¬ 
formed. At the rites in honour of Confucius, M. Hue expressly 
says, “ The spirit of Confucius is addressed as present.” And again, 
he tells us that the Chinese go to the sanctuary where the tablets 
are placed “ to inform their ancestors of whatever of good or evil 
happens to their descendants.” 

From the same authority we learn that“ The second religion 
of China is regarded by its disciples as the primitive one of its most 
ancient inhabitants. It has numerous analogies with the preceding: 
but the individual existence of genii and demons is recognised in it, 
independently of the parts of nature over which they preside. The 
priest and priestesses of this worship are devoted to celibacy, and 
practise magic, astrology, necromancy, and a thousand absurdities. 
They are called Tao-sse or Doctors of Reason, because their funda¬ 
mental dogma taught by the renowned Lao Tss6, is that of a pri¬ 
mordial reason which has created the world. This doctrine is con¬ 
tained in a work pompously entitled the Booh of the Way, and of 
Virtue.” 

This is probably the same belief which in Japan is called Sinto 
(literally, the “ way” or “ doctrine”), and which recognises, “ the 
existence of an infinite number of spirits, exercising an influence 
over the affairs of the world, who are to be propitiated by prayers 
and the observance of certain rules of conduct.” 

Mr. Med win, in his work on China, tells us that “ The adherents 
of Taou believe firmly in demoniacal possession. There are some 
who are regularly possessed, and some who can induce possession, 
which they call ‘dancing the god.” Magic arts are used, or 
said to be used by this sect, by means of which they work 
wonders. They profess to have constant intercourse with, and 
control over, the demons of the invisible world.” 

Dr. Macgowan, in the North China Herald, has given an account 
of the peculiar mode of “ table-turning,” and of “ the manner in 
which writing is performed by the agency of the Kwei, or Spirits,” 
in China. I extract his description of the latter:—“ The table is 
sprinkled equally with bran, flour, dust, or other powder, and two 
media sit down at opposite sides, with their hands placed upon the 
table. A hemispherical basket, of about eight inches diameter, such 
as is commonly used lor washing rice, is now reversed, and laid 
down with its edges laid resting upon the tips of one or two fingers 
of the two media. This basket is to act as penholder; and a reed 

d d 2 


404 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


or style is fastened to the rim, or a chopstick thrust through the 
interstices, with the point touching the powdered table. The ghost 
in the meantime, has been duly invoked with religious ceremonies, 
and the spectators stand round waiting the result in awe-struck 
silence. The result is not uniform. Sometimes the spirit sum¬ 
moned is unable to write, sometimes he is mischievously inclined, 
and the pen—for it always moves—will make either a few senseless 
flourishes on the tables, or fashion sentences that are without mean¬ 
ing, or with a meaning that only misleads. This, however, is com¬ 
paratively rare. In general, the words traced are arranged in the 
best form of composition, and they communicate intelligence wholly 
unknown to the operators. These operators are said to be not only 
unconscious, but unwilling ' participators in the feat. Sometimes, 
by the exercise of a strong will, they are unable to prevent the pencil 
from moving beyond the area it commands by its original position; 
but, in general, the fingers follow it in spite of themselves, till the 
whole table is covered with the ghostly message.” 

He tells us, that “ In Ningpo, in 1843, there was scarcely a house in 
which it was not practised for a season almost daily. More recently 
a club of literary graduates were in the habit of meeting in the 
Pau-tek-kwan, Taouish temple, near the Temple of Confucius, for prac¬ 
tising the Ri, as the ceremony is called; and many and marvellous are 
the revelations told of the spiritual manifestations which they elicited.” 
Here is an anecdote Dr. Macgowan received from a Christian prea¬ 
cher-—«A Mr. Li, in the village of Manthan, near this city, enjoyed 
the reputation of being remarkably successful in consulting spirits. 
Our informant, Chin, formed one of the party which had determined 
to test Mr. Li’s skill. It was agreed that the spirit should be re¬ 
quested to write a prescription for the wife of one of their number, 
then confined to bed with sickness. Two boys, who had no know¬ 
ledge of what information the party desired, were called to hold the 
basket. In a little time, the table was filled with characters, in 
which the diagnosis and treatment were clearly expressed—of course 
according to Chinese notions of pathology: the whole, when copied, 
was shown to be perfectly correct; displaying thus, it must be Con¬ 
fessed, a degree of magnanimity which native doctors never show 
their confreres in the flesh. 

« The same Mr. Li, however, was less fortunate a few months ago, 
when he thought fit to make public a revelation he received from 
the Kwei on the subject of a new pretender to the throne of the 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


405 


empire. Three of the invoking party have been beheaded, and Mr. 
Li himself is now in hiding, and in imminent danger of becoming 
one of the Kwei himself.” 

A similar account is given in Blackwood's Magazine, for April, 
1863, by a writer who had personally examined into this subject in 
China. He tells us that:—“ The spirit-writing is called by the 
Chinese Kongpit, or Descending to the Pencil.” The pencil is formed 
of a bent twig of an apricot tree, cut into the shape of a Chinese 
pen, one end of which is inserted at right angles into the middle of 
a piece of bamboo, about a foot long and an inch thick. “ The bam¬ 
boo is then placed in the palms of a man, so that the apricot twig 
touches the smooth sand upon one of the tables; and it is usually 
preferred that the person in whose hands the magic pen is thus 
placed should be unable to write, so that gives some guarantee 
against collusion and deception.” “ It is sometimes had recourse 
to by mandarins and educated persons as well as by the ignorant,’ 
and is a “ form of delusion, or else of communication with the spirit- 
world,” that “ has been in existence in the Middle Empire for cen¬ 
turies.” Answers to questions are usually written in verse; if the 
by-stander cannot make out the answer, the spirit will sometimes 
write it again, and add the word “ right” when it is at last properly 
understood. “ Many volumes exist, both in prose and verse, alleged 
to have been written by spirits.” The writer of this article expresses 
his conviction that this belief “ exercises a powerful influence for 
good by leading the Chinese mind from things seen and temporal, 
for which it is apt to have too much respect, towards those which 
are unseen and eternal. It gives to his horizon the awe of another 
world, and has much effect in preserving those family relationships 
which lie at the foundation of Chinese social success.” 

As a pendant to these statements, I subjoin what Mr. A. E. 
Newton, cf Boston, U.S., vouches for as “ certain facts within our 
own knowledge.” He writes:—“ Some two years ago, we occasionally 
met with a circle in this city (Boston), at which an intelligence pur¬ 
porting to be the spirit of a Chinaman repeatedly manifested him¬ 
self, and communicated very freely. He was wont to congratulate 
us on the freedom from molestation with which our investigations 
and intercourse with the spirit-life could be pursued in this land 
remarking that it was far otherwise among his own people. He 
stated that this intercourse had long been known and practised in 


406 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


China; but that of late years, exalted spirits had been endeavouring 
through this means, to impart light to his countrymen—to give them 
a purer religion and freer government—that thereby the opposition 
of the dominant classes had been aroused, and a violent persecution 
had been excited against those who had anything to do with spirit 
intercourse. In the province where he had lived, it had been carried 
to the extreme of putting to death those who practised it; and he 
himself had fallen a victim to the tyranny, having been burned at the 
stake for endeavouring to heal his own sick daughter by the laying 
on of hands, under spirit-direction. The details which he would 
sometimes give of his arrest and execution, were interesting and 
pathetic. He furthermore stated that this tyranny of the ruling 
dynasty had given rise to a rebellion, which the powers above were 
helping forward, and which he firmly believed would result in giving 
freedom to his beldved China. 

“ This last statement, in regard to the existence of a rebellion, was 
first made some two weeks before the news of such a state of things 
had reached this country through the ordinary channels.” 

Spiritualism, according to Commander Lindesay Brine, in his 
work, The Taeping Rebellion in China , was a good deal mixed up 
with the commencement of the Taeping rebellion; which in its origin 
partook much of the character of a religious reformation. As is well 
known, their leaders, as far as their light extended, were favourable 
to the Christian faith; and at their meetings, phenomena similar to 
those at revival meetings occurred. The late Rev. Mr. Bamberg, a 
Swedish missionary in China, in his biography of The Rebel Chief, 
tells us that the Taeping leader had many visions of, and communions 
from, the Spirit-world; and that his visions and trances continued a 
long time. But the “ chief ecstatic” was Yang-sin-tsliin, who was 
what the Americans call “ a trance and healing medium.” He had 
frequent “celestial experiences,” visions, trances, ecstasies, and 
revelations; and had great power over disease. His communications 
and prophetic utterances in the trance, were recorded in a book, and 
he had an influence in some respects, greater than that of the Taeping 
chief himself. 

Another writer tells us of “ A kind of spirit called the wu-tung” 
which by the Chinese is believed “to produce spiritual rappings in 
and about houses, and to cause burning flames to be seen;” also, 
that—“Written communications from spirits are not unfrequently 
sought for in tho following mannertwo persons support with their 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


407 


hands some object to which a pencil is attached in a vertical position, 
and extending to a table below, covered with sand. It is said that 
the movements of the pencil, involuntary as far as the persons 
holding it are concerned, but governed by the influence of spirits, 
describe certain characters which are easily deciphered, and which 
often bring to light remarkable disclosures and revelations. Many 
who regard themselves persons of superior intelligence, are firm 
believers in this mode of consulting spirits.” 

With these facts before us, we can scarcely avoid this writer’s con¬ 
clusion, “ that spirits occupy a prominent place among Chinese super¬ 
stitions, and have an important practical bearing upon domestic and 
social life.” According to some authorities, methods of communica¬ 
ting with spirits of the departed, have been known and practised in 
the Celestial Empire—“ At least from the days of Laou-tse, and he was 
an aged man when Confucius was a youth, between five and six 
centuries before the Christian era.” 

Concerning another Eastern people, of whom we heard a good 
deal a few years since—the Druses of Mount Lebanon—there is in 
Once a Week, for September, 1860, a long article from an Englishman 
who had spent six months among them, which gives us some 
curious information as to their beliefs and customs. It informs us 
that they are divided into “ Akkals, or initiated, and Djahils, or un¬ 
initiated.” The Akkals are of both sexes, and are the most respected 
part of the nation. Their being Akkals does not, however, give 
them emolument of any kind. “ They pursue the ordinary callings of 
life like other men.” Of one of the most distinguished of the Akkals 
—the Sheykh Bechir, the writer says :— 

« An English gentleman, long resident in Lebanon, and in whose 
word the most implicit reliance can be placed, has told me that he 
has seen at the Sheykh’s bidding, a stick proceed unaided by any¬ 
thing, from one end of the room to another. Also, on two earthen¬ 
ware jars being placed in opposite corners of the room, one being 
filled with water, and the other empty, the empty jar move across 
the room, the full jar rise and approach its companion, and empty 
its contents into it, the latter returning to its place in the way that 
it came.” 

Interested in this account, our author made the acquaintance 
of the Sheykh, and solicited an exhibition of his wonderful power; 
which he at first declined giving, on the ground that he had made 
it a rule, that “ except to effect cures, he would have nothing more to 


408 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


do with the unseen world.” At length, however, he was prevailed 
on, and here is what he saw:—“ The Sheykh took a common 
jar, which stood by the door filled with water for anyone who 
wished to drink, and placed it on the floor between two of the 
company. Then he commenced certain ‘recitations/ and movements 
of the hands, at a little distance from it. At first the jar did not 
move; but as the recitations and the movements of the hands grew 
more rapid, it began to go round; first slowly, and then quicker, 
until it moved at quite a rapid pace. The Sheykh pointed to it as 
in triumph, and then stopped his recitations, when the jar stopped 
turning. After perhaps half a minute’s silence, he began to recite 
again, and, wonderful to say, the jar began to turn again. At last 
he stopped, took the jar out of the hands of those who were hold¬ 
ing it, and held it for an instant to my ear, when I could plainly 
hear a singing noise, as if of boiling water, inside. He then poured 
the water carefully out of it, and gave it to the attendants to be 
refilled with water, and placed it where it had stood before, for any 
one wanting a drink t6 use. 

“ That the feat of making the water-jar turn was a very wonderful 
one, there can be no doubt; nor could I account for it by any natural 
or ordinary means whatever. But how it was accomplished, or 
whether any supernatural means whatever were used, I leave others 
to infer, not having myself formed an opinion on the subject, and 
intending simply to relate what I was myself an eye-witness of. 
What I was more curious to learn, was what the Sheykh himself 
thought on the subject of spirits being placed at man’s disposal, 
and how^he had, or believed he had acquired the power he was said 
to possess. 

“ A few days afterward he rode over to see me, and we had a long 
conversation on the subject, which interested me the more as the 
Sheykh was evidently sincere in all he said regarding his belief in 
the power of spirits, and the means he had used to acquire that 
power. That he firmly believes in his intercourse with the Spiritual 
World is certain. . . . 

“ His greatest triumphs have been in cures of epilepsy and con¬ 
firmed madness, in which I know of many instances where his success 
has been most wonderful. He resorts to no severe measures to 
those brought to him, nor does he use any medicine : simply repeat¬ 
ing over them certain incantations, and making passes with his 
hands as if mesmerising them. 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


409 


“ For severe fevers he has a twine or thread, of which he sends 
the patient—no matter how far off—enough to tie around his wrists, 
when the sickness is said to pass away at once. A relation of his 
own told me that his, (the relative’s,) wife had been afflicted for 
three years with a swelling, or tumour, of which the European 
doctors in Beyrout could make nothing, when at last she agreed to 
consult Sheykh Bechir. The latter shut himself up in his room for 
thirty days, fasting all the time upon very small quantities of bread 
and water. He then took the case in hand, and after making several 
passes over the woman’s body, she was in five minutes perfectly 
cured. 

“ But what surprised me more than anything else about the Sheykh, 
was the singularly correct description he gave of countries, towns, and 
even portions of towns, which he could never have seen—having never 
been out of Syria—and even of some regarding which he could not 
have read much. He can only read Arabic, in which tongue works 
of information are very limited, and the number of Europeans with 
whom he has had any intercourse whatever, might be counted upon 
his ten fingers. Moreover, he has never been further from his 
native mountain, than Damascus or Beyrout, and that for only short 
periods, and at long intervals. He asked me to name any town in 
which I had resided, and which I wished him to describe to me. I 
mentioned, among others, London, Edinburgh, Calcutta, Bombay, 
Cabool, Candahar, and Constantinople, each of which he literally 
painted in words to the very life; noticing the various kinds of 
vehicles, the dress of the different people, the variety of the buildings, 
and the peculiarities of the streets, with a fidelity which would have 
been a talent in any one who had visited them, but in a man who 
had never seen them, was truly marvellous.” 

Taking a glimpse before leaving the East, to the earlier time 
when literature and philosophy flourished among the Saracens, while 
as yet Europe lay immersed in barbarism, we find Spiritualism to be 
the recognized basis of their religious philosophy. The Soufis, a 
chief philosophico-religious sect among the Mussulmen of the ninth 
and tenth centuries, held that by fasting, solitude, and prayer, the 
soul entered into a state which they called “ The Ecstasyin which 
state it could rise to a knowledge of things and truths unattainable 
by humanity in its ordinary condition. A writer in Hogg’s Instructor , 
observes:—“ This state was only transitory, and, apparently, could 
not be counted upon at all times—so much depended upon the favour- 


410 


SPIRITUALISM IN THE EAST. 


able condition of the body, and on the tranquillity of the passions, 
and purity of the desires.” One of the most distinguished of their 
number, who has been called the Arabian Descartes, was Algazali, 
chosen Professor of Theology at Bagdad. He had studied the doc¬ 
trines of every sect of philosophers, and still finding no sure solution 
of the doubts that beset him, he last of all turned his attention to 
Soufism, to see if by the supernatural ecstasy of which its adherents 
spoke as a matter of experience, he might attain to that certainty of 
knowledge which he had sought in vain. He resolved on the 
attempt; but the seclusion, and the withdrawal from his public 
duties, which were deemed necessary, caused him to postpone it from 
day to day. At last, one morning as he was about to commence his 
lectures, his tongue was palsied, he was struck dumb. This seemed 
to him a divine punishment for his procrastination. He no longer 
hesitated; and distributing his wealth, he sought by solitude, fast¬ 
ing, and prayer, to fit himself for experiencing the exaltation of the 
ecstasy. He was at length successful. He preserves silence as to 
the higher portions of his experience, as of things not lawful or 
possible to be divulged to common ears; but it is probable that he 
had it in mind in the following passage :— 

“From the very first, the Soufis have such astonishing revelations, 
that they are enabled while waking, to see visions of angels, and the 
souls of the prophets; they hear their voices, and receive their 
favours. Afterwards, a transport exalts them beyond the mere per¬ 
ception of forms, to a degree which exceeds all expression, and 
concerning which we cannot speak without employing language that 
would seem blasphemous.”* This state of ecstasy, the Soufis affirmed, 
was only transitory, and dependent upon the favourable physical 
condition of the Soufi, and on the tranquillity of his passions, and 
the purity of his desires; hence the need of solitude, abstinence, and 
prayer. 

Further illustrations might be given in accounts of the Brahmins, 
Bonzes, Dervishes, Lamas, Aissaouas, Singalese, &c., but I must 
here bring these extracts to a close: warning the reader that I have 
presented these glimpses simply as showing a recognition of the 
fact of spiritual intercourse among peoples differing widely from 
ourselves in religion, civilization, habits, and modes of thought; not 
as passing judgment of approval of their several qualities and 

* Algazali, in M. Schm6ldeb’s Essai sur le* Ecoles Philosopkiques chez les Arabes. 
Paris, 1842. 


A'GLANCE AT THE NEW WORLD. 


411 


modes. Spiritualism, like Religion, I regard as a universal fact in 
man’s history; and in considering both it seems to me that a vigi¬ 
lant and sound discretion is needed, in order that we may not con¬ 
found things bearing the same name in consequence of some one 
or more broad superficial aspects which they possess in common, 
but which in their innate qualities and tendencies are mutually 
divergent. Both Religion and Spiritualism may be inverted, till 
they sink into the dark and foul abysses of idolatrous pollution; 
or they may reach to the highest communion of which man is 
capable; but, even in their lowest states, they testify to a spiri¬ 
tual nature in man linked to a world beyond the bounds of time 
and sense. This is the central truth which Spiritualism, by its 
“ logic of facts,” everywhere proclaims, and which it tends to esta¬ 
blish, not as an opinion to “ play around the head and come not 
near the heartbut as one of the deepest convictions of the human 
soul—such a conviction as shall be a sure foundation for all divine 
possibilities in human nature, and for those harmonious relations 
to God, Man, and Nature which the Creator has established. 


APPENDIX C. 

A GLANCE AT THE NEW WORLD. 

If, in prosecuting our inquiry, we travel from the East to the 
West, and turn our glance from the Old World to the primitive 
inhabitants of the New, we everywhere encounter the same faith 
and the same facts. 

Centuries before the white man appeared among them, there was 
a universal persuasion among the South American nations, based 
on ancient prophecies, revealed to their ancestors by spiritual agency, 
of a conquering and desolating race who were to come from towards 
the rising of the sun. In their solemn festivals these prophecies 
were sung with loud lamentations; and when the Spaniards came, 
literally verifying these predictions, no wonder that the aged among 
them were filled with gloomy forebodings of impending calamity. 
It was through the revelation of one of their seers that the Indian 
tribes first received information of the white men. He described the 
strange race with their white faces and long bushy beards, who had 



412 


A GLANCE AT THE NEW WOULD. 


crossed the great water in their wonderful canoes, describing minutely 
their ships, with the guns, knives, and other articles they brought 
with them. In consequence of these representations, a deputation 
was sent out to examine into the truth of the matter, and report 
to the tribe, and when, after journeying for months, they came up 
with the French, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, they found 
everything as their seer had described it. 


Kohl, who gives the account at large, in his Kitchi- Garni, also 
assures us that “ The Indians have, for a lengthened period, been 
great Spiritualists, ghost-seers, table-rappers, and perhaps, too, mag- 
netizers, which we ‘ educated’ Europeans have only recently become 
or returned to.” He tells us that-“The lodge which their jossa- 
kids or prophets, or, as the Canadians term them, ‘jongleurs,’ 
erect for their incantations is composed of stout posts, connected 
with basket-work, and covered with birch bark. It is tall and 
narrow, and resembles a chimney. It is very firmly built, and two 
men, even if exerting their utmost strength, would be unable to 
move, shake, or bend it. It is so narrow that a man who crawls 
m has scarcely room to move about in it.” And he adds the fol¬ 
lowing singular relation:— 


Thirty years ago, a gentleman who had lived much amongst 
the Indians and was even related to them through his wife, told me, 
‘ I was present at the incantation and performance of a jossakid in 
one of these lodges. I saw the man creep into the hut, which was 
about ten feet high, after swallowing a mysterious potion made from 
a root. He immediately began singing and beating the drum in his 
basket-work chimney. The entire case began gradually trembling 
and shaking, and oscillating slowly amidst great noise. The more 
the necromancer sang and drummed, the more violent the oscilla¬ 
tions of the long case became. It bent back and forwards, up and 
down, like the mast of a vessel caught in a storm and tossed on the 


waves. I could not understand how these movements could be 
produced by a man inside, as we could not have caused them from 
the exterior. 

The drum ceased, and the jossakid yelled that the spirits were 
coming over him. We then heard, through the noise, and cracking, 
and oscillations of the hut, two voices speaking inside, one above, 
the other below. The lower one asked questions, which the upper 
one answered. Both voices seemed entirely different, and I believed 
I could explain them by very clever ventriloquism. Some Spiritual- 


A GLANCE AT THE NEW WORLD. 


413 


ists among us, however, explain it through modern Spiritualism, 
and assert that the Indian jossakids had speaking media, in addi¬ 
tion to those known to us, who tapped, wrote, and drew. 

“ I cannot remember the questions asked and answers given, still 
much of the affair seemed to me strange, and when an opportunity 
offered, long after, to ask the jossakid about his behaviour on that 
occasion, under circumstances peculiarly favourable to the truth, I 
did so. Thirty years later he had become an old man, and a Chris¬ 
tian, and was lying on his death-bed, when accident again brought 
me to his side. ‘ Uncle,’ I said to him, recalling that circumstance, 
and having nothing else to talk about, ‘ uncle, dost thou remember 
prophesying to us in thy lodge, thirty years ago, and astonish¬ 
ing us, not only by thy discourse, but also by the movements of 
thy prop'het-lodge P I was curious to know how it was done, and 
thou saidst that thou hadst performed it by supernatural power 
through the Spirits. Now thou art old and hast become a Christian, 
thou art sick, and canst not live much longer—now is the time to 
confess all truthfully. Tell me, then, how and by what means thou 
didst deceive us ?’ 

“ ‘ I know it, my uncle,’ my sick Indian replied, * I have become 
a Christian, I am old, I am sick, I cannot live much longer, and I 
can do no other than speak the truth. Believe me, I did not 
deceive you at that time. I did not move the lodge. It was shaken 
by the power of the Spirits. Nor did I speak with a double tongue. 
I only repeated to you what the Spirits said to me. I heard their 
voices. The top of the lodge was full of them, and before me the 
sky and wide lands lay expanded. I could see a great distance 
round me ; and I believed I could recognise the most distant objects.’ 
The old jossakid said this with such an expression of simple truth 
and firm conviction, that it seemed to me, at least, that he did not 
believe himself a deceiver, and believed in the efficacy of his magic 
arts and the reality of his visions.” 

Schoolcraft, in his Algic Researches, tells us that the Indian “ be¬ 
lieves that the whole visible and invisible creation is animated with 
various orders of malignant or benign spirits, w r ho preside over the 
daily affairs, and over the final destinies of men.” Speaking of the 
ideas which form the groundwork of their religion, he says:—“ Su¬ 
perstition has engrafted upon the original stock, till the growth is a 
upas of giant size, bearing the fruits of demonology, witchcraft, and 
necromancy.” Some of the Indians seem even to believe in fairies, 


414 


A GLANCE AT THE NEW WORLD. 


whom they call Puck-wud-gimies, literally, “ Little men, who vanish.” 
One of their fairy tales bears the above title, another, given by 
Schoolcraft in his Oneota, is entitled—“The Little Spirit; or Boy 
Man.” 

“ Dreams,” he says, “ are considered by them as a means of direct 
communication with the Spiritual world; and hence the great in¬ 
fluence which dreams exert over the Indian mind and conduct. 
They are generally regarded as friendly warnings of their personal 
manitos. . . . Dreams are carefully sought by every Indian, whatever 
be their rank, at certain periods of youth, with fasting. These fasts 
are sometimes continued a great number of days, until the devotee 
becomes pale and emaciated. The animals that appear propitiously 
to the mind during these dreams, are fixed on and selected as per¬ 
sonal manitos , and are ever after viewed as guardians. This period 
of fasting and dreaming is deemed as essential by them as any 
religious rite whatever employed by Christians. The initial fast of 
a young man or girl holds the relative importance of baptism, with 
this peculiarity, that it is a free-will, or self-dedicatory rite.” 

Charlevoix, who wrote from extensive observation among the 
Indians, as well as from the testimony of the French missionaries, 
says in his Journal —“ The good spirits are called by the Hurons, 
Okkis, by the Algonquins, Mannitous. They suppose them to be the 
guardians of men, and that each has his own tutelary deity. ... It is 
remarkable, however, that these tutelary deities are not supposed to 
take men under their protection till something has been done to 
merit the favour.” He goes on to tell us that when a father wishes 
to obtain a guardian spirit for his child he causes him to fast several 
days; during which time it is expected the spirit will reveal himself 
in a dream; and if the child dreams of the same thing several times 
successively, this object becomes the symbol or figure under which 
the Okki is believed to reveal himself. 

Kohl became acquainted with an old Indian, who, at his persua¬ 
sion, related to him his life-dream, and, in doing so, he gave the 
following explanation of the origin of the custom:—“ Kitchi-Manitou 
(the Good Spirit) sent us our Hides from the east, and his prophets 
laid it down as a law that we should lead our children into the forest 
so soon as they approached man’s estate, and show them how they 
must fast, and direct their thoughts to higher things; and in return 
it is promised us that a dream shall then be sent them as a revelation 
of their fate—a confirmation of their vocation—a consecration and 


A GLANCE AT THE NEW WORLD. 415 

devotion to deity, and an external remembrance and good omen for 
their path of life.” 

Schoolcraft, in his Onedta, or the Red Race of America , gives the 
“ Confessions of Catherine Ogee Wyan Akwut Okwa, the Prophetess 
of Chegoiwegonafter she had been converted, and joined the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which, he says, she remained a 
consistent member. The account is too long to quote entire; but 
she relates that, when about twelve or thirteen years of age, after 
receiving a sign she was taken by her mother into the forest, where 
she was to* remain, fasting, in a small lodge, formed of branches of 
the spruce tree; in order that she might be directed as to her future 
life, and that the “ Master of Life” might have pity on her, and on 
her mother and sisters. She was told“ He will help you, if you 
are determined to do what is right. And tell me, whether you are 
favoured or not by the true Great Spirit; and if your visions are not 
good, reject them.” So saying, the mother departed. The girl was 
to keep away from everyone, but was permitted to chop wood and 
twist twine into mats for the family, for her diversion. It was 
winter; but though she felt great thirst, more than appetite, “ still 
I was fearful,” she says, “of touching the snow to allay it, by 
sucking it, as my mother had told me that if I did so, though 
secretly, the Great Spirit would see me, and the lesser spirits, also, 
and that my fasting would be of no use.” On the fourth day her 
mother brought her some snow in a little tin dish, which she melted, 
and gave her to drink, again telling her, “ to get and follow a good 
vision—a vision that might not only do us good, but also benefit 
mankind, if I could.” On the night of the sixth day, a voice called 
to her, and spoke comforting words to her. She saw visions of the 
Spirit-world, and the voice told her that she would have long life on 
the earth, and that skill would be given her in saving life to others. 
On the next day her mother brought her a little food, which, however, 
she declined to eat. On the seventh and last day of her fast, she 
ao-ain had a vision: she saw a form, which appeared to descend from 
the sky, and approaching her, entered the lodge; it spoke to her and 
said:—“I give you the gift of seeing'into futurity, that you may use 
it for the benefit of yourself and the Indians—your relations and 
tribes-people.” 

In consequence of being thus favoured, she assumed the arts of a 
medicine- woman and a prophetess. She says:—“The first time I 
exercised the prophetic art, was at the strong and repeated solicita- 


416 


A GLANCE AT THE NEW WORLD. 


tions of my friends. It was in the winter season, and they were 
then encamped west of the Wisacoda, or Brule river of Lake Supe¬ 
rior, and between it and the plains west. There were, besides my 
mother’s family and relatives, a considerable number of families. 
They had been some time at the place, and were near starving, as 
they could find no game. One evening the chief of the party came 
into my mother’s lodge ; I had lain down, and was supposed to be 
asleep, and he requested of my mother that she would allow me to 
try my skill to relieve them. My mother spoke to me, and after 
some conversation, she gave her consent. I told them to build the 
Jee suk aun, or prophet’s lodge, strong, and gave particular directions 
for it. I directed that it should consist of ten posts or saplings, each 
of a different kind of wood, which I named. When it was finished, 
and tightly wound with skins, the entire population of the encamp¬ 
ment assembled around it, and I went in, taking only a small drum. 
I immediately knelt down, and holding my head near the ground, in 
a position as near as may be prostrate, began beating my drum, and 
reciting my songs and incantations. The lodge commenced shaking 
violently by supernatural means. I knew this, by the compressed 
current of air above, and the noise of motion. This being regarded 
by me and by all without, as a proof of the presence of the spirits, I 
consulted. I ceased beating and singing, and lay still, waiting for 
questions, in the position I had at first assumed. The first question 
put to me was in relation to the game, and where it was to be found. 
The response was given by the orbicular spirit, who had appeared to 
me. He said, ‘How short-sighted you are. If you go in a west 
direction you will find game in abundance.’ Next day the camp was 
broken up, and they all moved westward, the hunters, as usual, 
going far ahead. They had not proceeded far beyond the bounds of 
their former hunting circle, when they came upon tracks of moose, 
and that day they killed a female and two young moose, nearly full- 
grown. They pitched their encampment anew, and had abundance 
of animal food in their new position.” 

The same writer gives another account which he had from a con¬ 
verted Ottowa Indian, named Chusco, who was then seventy years 
of age. He had been one of their prophets. “His replies,” says 
Schoolcbaet, “were perfectly ingenuous, evincing nothing of the 
natural taciturnity and shyness of the Indian mind.” In reply to 
our inquiry as to the mode of procedure, he stated that his first 
essay, after entering the lodge, was to strike the drum and commence 


A GLANCE AT THE NEW WOBXD. 


417 


his incantations. At this time his personal manitos assumed their 
agency, and received, it is to be inferred (?) a satanic agency. Not 
that he affects that there was any visible form assumed. But he 
felt their spirit-like presence. He represents the agitation of the 
lodge to be due to currents of air, having the irregular and gyratory 
power of a whirlwind. He does not pretend that his responses were 
guided by truth, but on the contrary, affirms that they were given 
under the influence of the evil spirit.” This latter opinion may 
possibly have been a reflection of the new theological influences 
under which he was placed rather than his own native conviction, 
though, as we have seen, the agency of both good and evil spirits 
were- admitted by the Indian tribes. Manito, it may be observed, 
signifies simply a spirit, and there is neither a good nor bad mean¬ 
ing attached to it, when not under the government of some adjec¬ 
tive or qualifying particle. 

S. F. Jarvis, D.D., A.A S., of New York, in a Discourse on the 
Religion of the North American Indians; after quoting Mackenzie’s 
account of the Knistineaux Indians, who inhabit the country extend¬ 
ing from Labrador, across the continent, to the Highlands which 
divide the waters on Lake Superior from those of Hudson’s Bay; 
goes on to say:—“ It is remarkable, that the description given by 
Peter Martyr, who was the companion of Columbus, of the worship 
of the inhabitants of Cuba, perfectly agrees with this account of the 
Northern Indians by Mackenzie. They believed in the existence of 
one supreme, invisible, immortal and omnipotent Creator, whom 
they named Jocahuna, but at the same time acknowledged a plurality 
of subordinate deities. They had little images called Zemes, whom 
they looked upon as only a kind of messengers between them and 
the eternal omnipotent, and invisible God. These images they 
consider as bodies inhabited by spirits, and oracular responses were 
therefore received from them as uttered by the divine command. 
The religion of Porto-B-ico, Jamaica, and Hispaniola, was the same 
as that of Cuba, for the inhabitants were of the same race, and spoke 
the same language. The Carribean Islands, on the other hand, were 
inhabited by a very fierce and savage people who were continually 
at war with the milder natives of Cuba and Hispaniola, and were 
regarded by them with the utmost terror and abhorrence. Yet ‘ the 
Charaibeans,’ to use the language of the elegant historian of the 
West Indies (Edwards) ‘while they entertained an awful sense of 
the one great Universal Cause, of a superior, wise, and invisible 

E E 


418 


A GLANCE AT THE NEW WORLD. 


Being of absolute and irresistible power, admitted also the agency 
of subordinate divinities. They supposed that each individual 
person had his peculiar protector, or tutelar deity.’ ” 

These statements throw considerable light on the so-called ‘idola¬ 
try” of the Indian and other heathen tribes. Their “ subordinate dei¬ 
ties,” it is probable were but to them what the lares were to the 
old Romans, what the “ saints” are to devout Catholics. No doubt 
there were superstitions and idle ceremonies connected with their 
faith in the intervention of spirits, but there can be no question that 
this belief elevated their character, and rendered possible the recep¬ 
tion of a higher faith. Charlevoix says:—“ The belief most firmly 
established among the American savages is that of the immortality 
of the soul.”* This belief could not have originated among them 
from a speculative philosophy or in metaphysical reasoning. It 
could have arisen and been sustained only by the direct Spirit- 
manifestations which were, and had been for generations, common 
among them. It was a universal persuasion, extending over the 
vast extent of country from Hudson’s Bay to the West Indies, in¬ 
cluding nations unconnected with, and unknown to each other, and 
speaking languages radically different. The statements I have 
quoted might be further corroborated from Heckewelder, Loskiel, 
and the Moravian missionaries. They are, in some particulars, 
finely rendered in Longfellow’s Hiawatha, drawn from these author¬ 
ities, especially from Schoolcraft. I will cite only one other passage 
from Jarvis’s Discourse :— 

“ There is another office which Carver, Bartram, and others have 
confounded with the priesthood, which exists among all the Indian 
tribes, and concerning which there is no diversity in the statements 
of travellers. To this class of men the French missionaries gave 
the name of Jongleurs, whence the English have derived that of 
jugglers or conjurors. To use the definition of Charlevoix, they 
are those servants of their gods, whose duty it is to announce their 
wishes, and to be their interpreters to men : or, in the language of 
Yolney, those ‘ whose trade it is, to expound dreams, and to negotiate 
between the Manito and the votary.’ ‘ The Jongleurs of Canada,’ says 
Charlevoix, ‘ boast that by means of the good spirits whom they 
consult, they learn what is passing in most remote countries, and 
what is to come to pass at the most remote period of time; that they 

* Concerning tlieir religion and morals see Catlin’s Lei tern and Lutes on the North American 
■Indians, Vol. II., p. 243. 


SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN THE WESLEY FAMILY. 419 

discover the origin and nature of the most secret disorders, and 
obtain the hidden method of curing them; that they discern the 
course to be pursued in the most intricate affairs, that they learn to 
explain the obscurest dreams, to give success to the most difficult 
negociations, and to render the gods propitious to warriors and 
hunters.’ ‘ I have heard,’ he adds, ‘ from persons of the most 
undoubted judgment and veracity, that when these impostors shut 
themselves up in their sweating stones, which is one of their most 
common preparations for the performance of their sleight of hand, 
they differ in no respect from the descriptions given by the poets 
of the priestesses of Apollo, when seated on the Delphic Tripod. 
They have been seen to fall into convulsions, to assume tones of 
voice, and to perform actions, which were seemingly superior to 
human strength, and which inspired with an unconquerable terror 
even the most prejudiced spectators.’ Their predictions were some¬ 
times so surprisingly verified that Charlevoix seems firmly to 
have believed that they had a real intercourse with the father of 
lies.” 

I am afraid the Indians had much stronger ground for the same 
conclusion in regard to the “ pale-faces” from the other side of the 
“big water.” But it is, at least, noteworthy how even the most 
prejudiced observers have remarked the similarity of phenomena of 
alleged spiritual origin occurring in places and among people so 
widely different, all the world over. 

The recent manifestations in the New World, and which from 
thence are spreading so rapidly and broadly over the Old World, is too 
large a subject for a passing glance. It may, perhaps, hereafter, 
form the subject of another volume. 


APPENDIX D. 

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN THE WESLEY FAMILY, AND THEIR CRITICS. 

There is in some men an ignorant impatience of Spiritualism. 
Speak to them of its phenomena or its philosophy, and they shrug 
their shoulders and smile as though from some Alpine height of 
wisdom they looked down with pity upon your infirmity. It never 
occurs to them that their pitying scorn may arise, not from a greater 

E E 2 



420 


SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN 


wealth of intellect or information, but from a destitution of knowledge 
in relation to the subject; or, a more than average share of that un¬ 
wisdom which attaches more or less to all men. Much of this super¬ 
cilious treatment, apparently, grows out of the belief that the alleged 
phenomena run counter to the experience of at least all civilized and 
enlightened ages You will be told that idle stories of the kind were 
1 ndeed admitted as true in pre-enlightened and pre-scientific times, 
and that similar stories may even be credited in our own time by the 
ignorant and superstitious: but that there are any modern facts 
evincing the direct action of spiritual agencies is to the educated and 
scientific mind utterly incredible. Nevertheless; such facts exist, 
attested by the evidence of persons of the highest reputation for 
veracity, intelligence, and good sense; and if, instead of scoffing, and 
declaring these facts impossible, people would examine and deal 
fairly by the evidence, they would be better prepared to arrive at 
just and reasonable conclusions upon the subject. 

To select only one instance out of many, what can be better attested 
than the Spirit-manifestations in the Wesley family, at the parsonage 
house, Epworth, Lincolnshire. “ The accounts given of them,” says 
Dr. Adam Clarke, “ are so circumstantial and authentic, as to entitle 
them to the most implicit credit. The eye and ear-witnesses were 
persons of strong understandings and well-cultivated minds, un¬ 
tinctured by superstition, and in some instances rather sceptically 
inclined.” They used “ the utmost care, scrupulosity, and watchful¬ 
ness to prevent them from being imposed upon by trick or fraud. . . . 
That they were preternatural , the whole state of the case and sup¬ 
porting evidence seems to show.” A diary of these occurrences was 
kept by the Rev. Samuel Wesley: we have also separate narratives 
of them by Mrs. Wesley, Susannah, Emily, Mary, and Nancy Wesley, 
in their letters to Mr. Samuel Wesley, jun., who was then from home; 
as well as the statements of Robin Brown, the man-servant in the 
family, and of the Rev. Mr. Hoole, rector of Haxey, whom John 
Wesley describes as “an eminently pious and sensible man;” lastly, 
a narrative of these transactions was drawn up and published in the 
Arminian Magazine by John Wesley, who went down to Epworth, in 
the year 1720, and carefully inquired into the particulars; and, he 
tells us, “ spoke to each of the persons who were then in the house 
and took down what each could testify of his or her own knowledge.” 
So that if testimony is worth anything, it is here ample and con¬ 
clusive. 


THE WESLEY FAMILY. 


421 


Philosophers and critics have exerted all their ingenuity to explain 
the phenomena described by these witnesses on purely natural prin¬ 
ciples, but in vain; their theories, like the Dutchman’s oyster, are 
very hard to swallow. The one which, perhaps, has found most 
favour is that of Coleridge, who considered the cause of them to be 
“ a contagious nervous disease; and this, indeed,” he says, “ I take 
to be the true and only solution.” In exposition of this “ true and 
only solution,” he remarks :— 

“ First the new maid-servant hears it, then the new man. They 
tell it to the children” (lads and grown-up women), “who now hear it; 
the children the mother, who now begins to hear it: she, the father, 
and the night after he awakes, and then first hears it. Strong pre¬ 
sumptions, first, that it was not objective, i.e., a trick: secondly, 
that it was a contagious disease , to the auditual nerves what vapours 
or blue devils are to the eye. Observe, too, each of these persons 
hears the same noise as a different sound. What can be more 
decisive of its subjective nature ?” 

Now, it may be remarked on this, that even were the facts correctly 
stated (which they are not), the theory does not go quite far enough. 
If the new man got it from the new maid, where did the new maid 
get it from ? If the world stands on the back of a tortoise, what 
does the tortoise stand on ? But, unfortunately for the philosopher 
of Highgate, he has accommodated the genesis of the facts, and the 
facts themselves, to the exigencies of his theory. It appears from 
John Wesley’s narrative, that when the noises were first heard, 
Dec. 2nd, 1716, the man and the maid-servant were together, and both 
heard the knockings, which, at intervals, were several times re¬ 
peated, though they could not discover the cause of them; and, what 
is more important, though these knockings were then first heard by 
them, Mrs. Wesley did not when told of them, then begin to hear 
them, for, as we shall see presently, she had heard them many years 
before. Nor did Mr. Wesley, after hearing of them, awaken the nexl 
night and then hear the knocks; on the contrary, his words are: 
—“That night I was awaked, a little before one, by nine distinct 
very loud knocks, which seemed to be in the next room to ours, with 
a sort of a pause at every third stroke;” nor do the narratives 
warrant the assertion that—“each person heard the same noise as 
a different sound,” though some of these noises might be described 
in a slightly different way, and with different comparisons by different 
auditors, as would very naturally happen with any “ objective” noises 


422 


SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN 



of an unusual nature; but all heard and spoke of the same knocks, 
and most heard footsteps, &c. Mrs. Wesley writes, concerning the 
knocking:—“All the family has heard it together, in the same 
room, at the same time, particularly at family prayers. It always 
seemed to all present in the same place at the same time; though 
often, before any could say it is here, it would remove to another 
place.” But, beside the knockings and footsteps, there were other 
peculiar noises, varying from time to time—“ strange and various,” 
as Mrs. Wesley called them. The differentia, therefore, were in the 
sounds themselves, not in the different “ subjective” states of their 
auditors. There are “thirteen general circumstances” enumerated 
in the narratives, of which “ most, if not all, the family were frequent 
witnesses.” 

But not only the “ auditual nerves,” but the optic nerves of the 
family and their sense of touch also must have been diseased, for 
various objects were seen to move, sometimes, for “ a pretty while” 
together, though no agent was visible; and thrice an apparition was 
seen by different witnesses. Emily Wesley and her father were each, 
at different times, pushed against with great force by an invisible 
power; the latter, once with such violence as to be nearly thrown 
down by it; and, “ the bed on which sister Nancy sat was lifted up 
with her in it.” The “contagious nervous disease,” too, must have 
extended to the “ stout mastiff” who was brought inlo the house as 
a protection, but who was more sensitive to the approach of the 
*•'contagious nervous disease ” than human creatures, giving them, 
indeed, notice of its presence by whining, trembling, and seeking 
shelter before anything was either seen or heard by the family;—and 
also to the sleeping children, for, “ when the noises began, a sweat 
came over the children in their sleep, and they panted and trembled 
till the disturbances were so loud as to awaken them.” 

Again, even admitting the possible existence of a “contagious 
nervous disease ” capable of these results (although I am not aware 
that it is known to medical science), the witnesses in this case were 
not at all the kind of persons likely to be affected by it. They were 
not like the servants in Dickens’s Haunted House, who came there 
“ to be frightened, and infect one another.” They were not nervous, 
hysterical hypochondriacs; there was no “contagion of suspicion 
and fear” among them; no predisposition to regard the disturbances 
as supernatural if they could be otherwise accounted for : quite the 
contrary. “ For a considerable time all the family believed it to be a 


TTTE WESLEY FAMILY. 


423 


trick.” This belief extended even to the servants: when the two 
servants who had first heard the knocks and groans told their fellow- 
servant what they had heard, and that one of them, Robin Brown, 
on going to bed, had seen on the top of the garret stairs, a hand-mill 
whirled about very swiftly, she only laughed at them, saying, “What 
a couple of fools are you! I defy anything to fright me.” And 
when, the next night while engaged in her work, she also heard the 
knocks, she took the candle and searched the place from whence the 
sounds came. “ Sister Molly ” (about twenty years of age), as she 
was sitting in the dining-room, reading, “ heard as if it were the 
door that led into the hall open, and a person walking in, that 
seemed to have on a silk night-gown rustling and trailing along. It 
seemed to walk round her, then to the door, then round again; but 
she could see nothing.” So she—what?—screamed and went into 
fits? No, nothing of the sort; but she “rose, put the book under 
her arm, and walked slowly away.” Mrs. Wesley, when told of the 
noises, in the same quiet way, remarked :—“ If I hear anything myself, 
I shall know how to judge.” 

In one of the letters to her son, she writes:—“ I was a great while 
ere I could credit anything of what the children and servants re¬ 
ported concerning the noises they heard in several parts of our 
house. Nay, after I had heard them myself, I was willing to per¬ 
suade myself and them that it was only rats or weasels that disturbed 
us ; and having been formerly troubled with rats, which were fright¬ 
ened away by sounding a horn, I caused a horn to be procured, and 
made them blow it all over the house. But from that night they 
began to blow, the noises were more loud and distinct, both day and 
night, than before, and that night we rose and went down I was 
entirely convinced that it was beyond the power of any human 
creature to make such strange and various noises.” When she told 
her husband of these “ strange and various noises,” he, too, like all 
the rest of the family, incredulous, said to her, somewhat reproach¬ 
fully, “ Sukey, I am ashamed of you. These boys and girls frighten 
one another, but you are a woman of sense, and should know better. 
Let me hear of it no more.” However, he could not help hearing- 
more of it; but, unable to find out what caused the disturbance, he 
was so angered that he was in the act of firing a pistol at the place 
whence the noise came, when his arm was caught by Mr. Hoole, who 
dissuaded him. He then challenged the “contagious disease,” or 
“Jeffrey,” as the family began to call it (Jeffrey was the name of one 


424 


SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN 


who had died in the house), to come to him when alone in his study, 
which it did, though for the first time. When, several weeks after¬ 
ward, the disturbances continuing, he was advised to quit the house, 
he constantly answered “ No, let the devil flee from me; I will never 
flee from the devil.” A brave old man, surely, though we think a 
little mistaken as to the character of his visitor, for Jeffrey was found 
to be “a harmless goblin.” Miss Emily Wesley told her sisters :— 
“You know I believe none of these things. Pray, let me take away 
the candle to-night, and I will find out the trick.” It was not from 
want of courage that she failed to “find out the trick,” for she 
once saw in the house an apparition in something of an animal 
form; and in a letter to her brother, narrating the circumstance, 
she declared, “I would venture to fire a pistol at it if I saw it long 
enough.” In one of the letters to her brother giving him an ac¬ 
count of what occurred, she writes :—“ I am so far from being super¬ 
stitious that I was too much inclined to infidelity; so that I heartily 
rejoice at having such an opportunity of convincing myself past 
doubt or scruple, of the existence of some beings besides those we 
see. A whole month was sufficient to convince anybody of the 
reality of the thing, and to try all ways of discovering any trick, 
had it been possible for any such to have been used. I shall only 
tell you what I myself heard, and leave the rest to others.” 
Even the youngest sister, so far from having any morbid apprehen¬ 
sions regarding this mystery, would pursue the noises from room to 
room, saying, “ she desired no better diversion.” Priestley re¬ 
marks:—“ All the parties seem to have been sufficiently void of fear, 
and also free from credulity, except the general belief that such 
things were preternatural.” The animus of Coleridge is sufficiently 
obvious in his making the term objective, synonymous in this case 
with trick. 

Priestley thought it “ most probable ” that it was a trick of the 
servants, assisted by some of the neighbours ; but the servants were 
frequently all together with the family when these things occurred ; 
and, as Southey remarks, “many of the circumstances cannot be 
explained by any such supposition, nor by any legerdemain, nor by 
ventriloquism, nor by any secret of acoustics.” But what most 
completely nullifies all suppositions of the kind, is the fact, that the 
visits of Jeffrey, or, the contagious nervous disease, though neither so 
frequent nor so violent, began long before, and continued long aft&r 
this time. John Wesley says:—“ The first time my mother ever 


THE WESLEY FAMILY. 


425 


heard any unusual noise at Epworth, was long before the disturbance 
of old Jeffrey. My brother, lately come from London, had one 
evening a sharp quarrel with my sister Sukey, at which time, my 
mother happening to be about in her own chamber, the door and 
windows rang and jarred very loud, and presently several distinct 
strokes, three by three, were struck. From that night it never 
failed to give notice, in much the same manner, against any signal 
misfortune or illness of any belonging to the family.” Dr. A. Claeke 
tells us that these phenomena continued with some of the members 
of the family for many years; and Emily Wesley, (then Mrs. Harper,) 
in a letter to her brother John, from London , thirty-four years after, 
writes:—“ Another thing is, that wonderful thing, called by us 
Jeffrey ! You won’t laugh at me for being superstitious, if I tell you 
how certainly that something calls on me against any extraordinary new 
affliction; but so little is known of the invisible world, that I at least 
am not able to judge whether it be a friendly or an evil spirit .” 
These facts, I think, overturn Coleridge’s theory of the subjective 
character of the phenomena, and Priestley’s supposition that they 
were a trick of the servants. 

Priestley, indeed, was compelled to fall back on the old question, 
Cui bono ! To this, Dr. George Smith, in his Wesley and his Times, 
replies :—“ The word of divine revelation cannot be believed in its 
plain and obvious sense, nor can we admit the truth of evidence, 
which, in respect of every other matter, would be regarded as irre¬ 
sistible, if we refuse to allow that, in numerous cases in ancient and 
modern times, visible and palpable phenomena have been manifested, 
which can only be accounted for by supposing the immediate action 
of supernatural agency. And whatever such writers as Dr. Priestley 
may say, as to the absence of an object in such extraordinary mani¬ 
festations, it is clearly the grand end of divine revelation, and the 
first object of God’s providential government, to impress the mind 
-of man with the great fact of the certain existence of a spiritual and 
unseen world; and, to this fact, such cases as the one before us, when 
authenticated by unquestionable evidence, bear ample testimony.”* 

But whatever may have been the cause of these phenomena, it was 
something invisible that could respond to questions and observations, 
and its movements were heard about the house like the footsteps of a 
man. It could imitate Mr. Wesley’s particular knock at the gate, 
and other sounds; repeating them any given number of times, 
* Southey's judicious observations on this are given at p. 428. 


426 


SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN 


according to request. It was “easily offended;” could be made 
“angry,” even “ outrageous,” and, in particular, “ was more loud and 
fierce if any one said it was rats, or anything natural.” It could 
forewarn of impending affliction, and had decided Jacobite predilec¬ 
tions. I note these little peculiarities, as probably some disciple of 
Dr. Rogers, and President Mahan, may proclaim that it was od force, 
that being now the latest development—the very last thaumaturgist, 
of anti-spiritual philosophers. I would very humbly ask them, does 
od possess these idiosyncracies and infirmities of intellect and temper, 
and is. it a political partisan ? 

Spirit-manifestations, similar to those in the Wesley family, have 
now spread over both continents; but even in the last century they 
were not so uncommon as is sometimes thought. Dr. Adam Clares 
says:—“The story of the disturbances at the parsonage-house in 
Epworth is not unique. I, myself, and others of my particular ac¬ 
quaintances, were eye and ear witnesses of transactions of a similar 
kind, which could never be traced to any source of trick or impos¬ 
ture, and appeared to be the forerunners of two very tragical events 
in the disturbed family, after which no noises or disturbance ever 
took place.” And Coleridge alleges that he “ could produce fifty 
cases at least equally well authenticated, (as that of the disturbance 
in the Wesley family,) and, as far as the veracity of the narrators, 
and the single fact of their having seen and heard such sights or 
sounds, above all rational scepticism.” 

The following condensed summary of the occurrences at Epworth, 
is from Stevens’s History of Methodism. Those who wish for fuller 
details, are referred to the documents in Clarke’s Memoirs of the 
Wesley Family. 

“Writers on Methodism have been interested in tracing the 
influence of Wesley’s domestic education on the habits of his man¬ 
hood, and the ecclesiastical system which he founded. Even the 
extraordinary ‘noises’ for which the rectory became noted, and which 
still remain unexplained, are supposed to have had a providential 
influence upon his character. These phenomena were strikingly 
similar to marvels which in our times, have suddenly spread over 
most of the civilized world; perplexing the learned, deluding the 
ignorant, producing a ‘ spiritualistic literature of hundreds of volumes 
and periodicals, and resulting in extensive Church organizations.’ 
The learned Priestley obtained the family letters and journals relating 
to these curious facts, and gave them to the world as the best authen- 


THE WESLEY FAMILY. 


427 


ticated and best told story of the kind that was anywhere extant. 
John Wesley himself has left ns a summary of these mysterious 
events. They began usually with a loud whistling of the wind around 
the house. Before it came into any room, the latches were frequently 
lifted up, the windows clattered, and whatever iron and brass there 
was about the chamber, rang and jarred exceedingly. When it was 
in any room, let the inmates make what noises they would, as they 
sometimes did on purpose, its dead hollow note would be clearly 
heard above them all. The sound very often seemed in the air, in 
the middle of the room; nor could they exactly imitate it by any 
contrivance. It seemed to rattle down the pewter, to clap the doors, 
draw the curtains, and throw the man-servant’s shoes up and down. 
Once it threw open the nursery door. The mastiff barked violently 
at it the first day, yet whenever it came afterwards, he ran whining, 
or quite silent,' to shelter himself behind some of the company. 
Scarcely any of the family could go from one room into another, but 
the latch of the door they approached was lifted up before they 
touched it. ‘It was evidently,’ says Southey, ‘a Jacobite goblin, and 
seldom suffered Mr. Wesley to pray for the king, without disturbing 
the family.’ John says it gave * thundering knocks’ at the Amen, 
and the loyal rector, waxing angry at the insult, sometimes repeated 
the prayer with defiance. He was thrice pushed by it, with no little 
violence; it never disturbed him, however, till after he had rudely 
denounced it as a dumb and deaf devil, and challenged it to cease 
annoying his innocent children, and meet him in his study if it had 
something to say. It replied with ‘ a knock as if it would shiver the 
boards in pieces,’ and resented the affront by accepting the challenge. 
At one time the trencher danced upon the table without anybody 
touching either; at another, when several of the daughters were 
amusing themselves with a game of cards upon one of the beds, the 
wall seemed to tremble with the noise; they leaped from the bed, 
and it was raised in the air, as described by Cotton Mather, in the 
Witchcraft of New England. Sometimes moans were heard, as from 
a dying person; at others, it swept through the halls and along the 
stairs, with the sound of a person trailing a loose gown on the floor, 
and the chamber walls, meanwhile, shook with vibrations. It would 
respond to Mrs. Wesley if she stamped on the floor, and bade it 
answer; and it was more loud and fierce whenever it was attributed 
to rats or any natural cause. 

“These noises continued about two months, and occurred the 


428 


SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN THE WESLEY FAMILY. 


latter part of the time every day. The family soon came to consider 
them amusing freaks, as they were never attended with any serious 
harm; they all, nevertheless, deemed them preternatural. Adam 
Clarke assures us, that though they subsided at Epworth, they 
continued to molest some members of the family for many years. 
Clarke believed them to be demoniacal; Southey is ambiguous respect¬ 
ing their real character; Priestley supposed them a trick of the servants 
or neighbours; but without any other reason than that they seemed 
not to answer any adequate purpose of a ‘ miracle;’ to which Southey 
justly replies, that with regard to the good design which they may 
be supposed to answer, ‘it would be sufficient if sometimes one of 
those unhappy persons, who looking through the dim glass of 
infidelity, sees nothing beyond the narrow sphere of mortal existence, 
should, from the well-established truth of one such story—trifling 
and objectless as it might otherwise appear—be led to the conclusion 
that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of 
in their philosophy.’* Isaac Taylor considers them neither ‘ celestial’ 
nor infernal, but extra-terrestrial, intruding upon our sphere occa¬ 
sionally, as the Arabian locust is sometimes found in Hyde Park. Of 
the influence of these facts upon Mr. Wesley’s character, this author 
remarks that they took effect upon him in such a decisive manner, 
as to lay open his faculty of belief, and create a right of way for the 
supernatural through his mind, so that to the end of his life there 
was nothing so marvellous that it could not freely pass where these 
mysteries had passed before it. Whatever may be thought of this 
very hypothetical suggestion, and of its incompatibility with the 
disposition of this writer, and, indeed, of most of Wesley’s critics, 
to impute to him a natural and perilous credulity, it cannot be 
denied that in an age which was characterized by scepticism, a strong 
susceptibility of faith was a necessary qualification for the work which 
devolved upon him, and less dangerous by far than the opposite dis¬ 
position; for though the former might mar that work, the latter must 
have been fatal to it.” 

* Southey further remarks-" By miracle, Dr. Priestley evidently intends a manifestation of 
Divine power; but in the present instance no such manifestation is supposed, any more than in 
the appearance of a departed spirit. Such things may be preternatural, aud yet not miraculous: 
they may not be in the ordinary course of nature, and yet imply no alteration of its laws.” 


THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 


429 


APPENDIX E. 

THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 

The numerous and elaborate theories presented to explain away 
the spiritual nature of apparitions is, at least, a proof of the pretty 
general conviction that, notwithstanding the real or assumed levity 
in which they are usually spoken of, the narratives we have of them 
are not to be regarded as all imposture. That cry is almost certain 
to be raised whenever any specific case is referred to, and, especially, 
•if any particular incident admits of this explanation, it is at once 
assumed to cover the whole case, though it may throw no light on 
any of its essential facts, and may even show still more clearly 
that they are quite inexplicable on any such hypothesis. 

Ask any ordinarily well-informed person to name the most notor¬ 
ious instance of imposture in this line, and, without hesitation, he 
will specify—“The Cock-Lane Ghost.” The very name is a by¬ 
word—a synonyme for detected imposture. Does a journalist wish 
to point a moral about the credulity of human nature especially 
when unenlightened by science—he evokes the “ Cock-Lane Ghost. 
Does Mr. Morley want a smart title to an article against Spirit- 
rapping,”* he christens it, “ The Ghost of the Cock-Lane Ghost,” and 
chuckles over it as a happy idea; or again, does Mr. Dickens wish to 
prove that spirits are “ supernaturally deficient in originality, he 
takes the pains to point out how “ even the Cock-Lane Ghost rapped 
out its messages, as the spirits of this very year last past rapped 
out theirs.” Well, as this “perturbed spirit” seems thus “doomed 
for a certain space to walk the earth,” in a very “ questionable shape,” 
we’ll “speak to it.” I don’t exactly mean by summoning it at a 
seance as Mr. G. H. Lewes, once did the ghost of Hamlet s father, 
but merely by calling up the facts, as presented in the popular 
narrative of it, by Henry Wilson, who appears to have been as little 
of a Spiritualist as Mr. Morley, Mr. Dickens, or Mr. Lewes. The 
history may, perhaps, serve as a caution how we accept a popular 
verdict without inquiry. I slightly abridge the narrative, but ad¬ 
here as closely as possible to the author’s language ; and have 
marked in italics some of the more salient points m the evidence 
and such phenomena as appear most nearly related to the spiritual 

manifestations in our own day. _ __ . , . n 

In 1756, Mr. Kempe, a gentleman of Norfolk, was married to a 


430 


THE COCK-LANE GHCST. 


lady, who within a twelvemonth died in childbed. Her sister, who 
had lived at Mr. Kempe’s, as a companion to his wife, continued to 
assist him in his business, and they contracted such an intimacy, 
that when he quitted it with the intention of settling in London, 
she insisted on following him—even on foot, if he would not procure 
her a more creditable conveyance. She accordingly followed him to 
town, and they lived together as man and wife, and mutually made 
their wills in each other’s favour. After a time, they took lodgings 
in Cock-Lane, Smithfield, at the house of a Mr. Parsons, the officiat¬ 
ing clerk of St. Sepulchre’s. Soon after their removal here, Mr. 
Kempe went into the country, and his lady, who went by the name 
of Fanny , took Mr. Parson’s daughter, a child of eleven years old 
to sleep with her. Soon after, Fanny, one morning, complained to 
the family that they had both been greatly disturbed in the night 
by violent noises. Mr. Parsons was at a loss to account for this, 
but at length recollected that an industrious shoemaker lived in the 
neighbourhood, and concluded that he was the cause of the distur¬ 
bance. The noises, however, were again heard, and on a Sunday 
night, when it was known that the shoemaker was not at work. 
The lady now approaching her confinement, and also, being taken 
with what was thought to be an eruptive fever, removed to more 
convenient lodgings in Bartlett Street, Clerke'nwell. After her re¬ 
moval the noises ceased at Mr. Parsons’ house. It was now found 
that instead of an eruptive fever, her disease was small-pox. The 
symptoms, which at first appeared favourable, soon gave indications 
of approaching dissolution. She expired on the second of February, 
1760, and her body was interred at the church of St. John’s Clerken- 
well. 

From this event two years elapsed, when a report was spread that 
a great knocking and scratching had been heard in the night at the 
house of Mr. Parsons, to the great terror of all the family; all me¬ 
thods to discover the cause of it being ineffectual. This noise was 
always heard under the bed in which lay two children, the eldest of 
whom had slept with Mrs. Kempe during her residence there. To 
find out whence it proceeded, Mr. Parsons had the wainscot taken 
down, but the knockings and scratchings still continued, and with 
greater violence. The children were removed into another room, 
but were followed by the same noises, which sometimes continued 
during the whole night. From these circumstances it was appre¬ 
hended that the house was haunted. 


THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 


431 


The elder child declared that she had some time before seen the 
apparition of a woman, surrounded, as it were, by a blaze of light; 
nor was she the only person who saw this apparition. A publican 
in the neighbourhood, bringing a pot of beer into the house, about 
eleven o’clock at night, was so terrified that he let the beer fall, upon 
seeing on the stairs, as he was looking up, the bright, shining figure 
of a woman, which cast such a light that he could see the dial on the 
charity-school through a window in that building. The figure passed 
by him and beckoned him to follow, but he was too terrified to obey 
its directions, and ran home as fast as he could, and was taken very 
ill. About an hour after this, Mr. Parsons himself, having occasion 
to go into another room, saw the same apparition. 

The girl who had seen the apparition, being questioned as to what 
she thought it was like, declared that it was Mrs. Kempe, who about 
two years before had lodged in the house. Upon this, the circum¬ 
stances attending Mrs. Kempe’s death were called to mind, and 
other circumstances were brought to light tending still further to 
inculpate Mr. Kempe, and it began to be rumoured that there was 
ground for suspicion that the deceased lady had not died a natural 
death; and a narrative of her connection with Mr. Kempe was 
published, signed J. A. L. (supposed to be the initials of a relative 
of the deceased lady) with a supplement, signed “ B. Browne , Amen 
Corner reflecting strongly upon his conduct. 

The knockings continued with increased violence, and the child 
was sometimes thrown into violent fits and agitations: it began to 
be believed that the spirit of Mrs. Kempe had taken possession of 
the girl. Several gentlemen were requested to sit up all night in 
the child’s room. On the 13th of January, between eleven and 
twelve o’clock at night, a respectable clergyman was sent for, who, 
addressing himself to the supposed Spirit, desired, that if any wrong 
had been done to the person who had lived in that house, he might 
be answered in the affirmative by one single knock; if the contrary, 
by two knocks. This was immediately answered by one knock. He 
then asked several questions, which were all very rationally answered f 
and from which the following particulars were learned“ That the 
Spirit was a woman, her name Frances Ij s, that she had lived in 
fornication with Mr. Kempe, whose first wife was her sister, and 
that he had poisoned her by putting arsenic in purl, and administer¬ 
ing it to her when ill of small-pox.” 

Many people suspecting that some deception was practised, it was 


432 


THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 


resolved to remove the girl to another house, in order that if there 
was any imposture, it might be detected. This was accordingly 
done, and the child was suddenly taken away to a strange house, at 
the corner of Hosier Lane, Smithfield,—and not to that to which it 
had been said she was to be removed. The clergyman who had 
already visited her, not choosing to pronounce hastily on what seemed 
to him extraordinary, collected some friends, among whom were two 
or three divines, and about twenty other persons, to assist him 
in detecting any imposture that might be practised. They first 
thoroughly examined the bed, bedding, &c., and being satisfied that 
there was no visible appearance of deceit, the child was put into the 
bed, which was found to shake violently. They then proceeded to 
ask a variety of questions ; the answers were given by raps as before 
(one knock for the affirmative, two for the negative, and expressing 
displeasure by scratching), and they confirmed the former statement, 
and added a few other particulars. Some “ test questions,” such as 
the number of clergymen present, were correctly answered, and by 
the same method it was stated that the Spirit would depart at four 
o’clock in the morning; at which hour the sounds are said to have 
removed into a public-house, called the “Wheat Sheaf,” a few doors, 
off, where they were heard in the bed-chamber of the landlord and 
landlady, to the great affright and terror of them both. 

The child was now conveyed to a house in Crown and Cushion 
Court, where two clergymen and several ladies and gentlemen met 
to further investigate the case. 

About eleven o’clock the knocking began; when a gentlemari in 
the room began speaking angrily to the girl, and hinting that he 
supposed it was some trick of hers; the child was uneasy and cried; 
on which the knocking was heard louder, and much faster than 
before; but no answer could be obtained to any question while that 
gentleman staid in the room. 

After he was gone the noise ceased, and nothing was heard till a 
little after twelve, when the child was seized with a trembling and 
shivering, in which manner she always appeared to be affected on the 
departure as well as the approach of the Spirit. On this, one of the 
party asked when it would return again, and at what time. Answer 
was made in the usual manner by knocks, that it would be there 
again before seven in the morning. A noise like the fluttering of 
wings was then heard, after which all was quiet till between six and 
seven on the following morning, when the knocking began again. 


THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 


433 


A little before seven, two clergymen came, when the fluttering 
noise was repeated: which was considered as a sign that the Spirit 
was pleased. Several questions were then put, particularly one by a 
female, an acquaintance of the deceased, who came out of mere 
curiosity, and who had been to see Mrs. Kempe some time before 
she died. The question was, how many days before the death of 
the latter this gentlewoman had been to see her? The answer given 
was three knocks, signifying three days, which was exactly right. 
Another question was, whether some of the company then present 
had not a relation who had been buried in the same vault where 
Mrs. Kempe lay ? The reply was made by one knock in the affirma¬ 
tive. They then asked severally if it was their relation: all excepting 
the two last were answered no; but to the last the reply was one 
knock, which was right. These two circumstances produced con¬ 
siderable surprise in the company. The clergyman then asked 
several questions, the most material of which, with the responses, 
were as follows:—You have often signified that Mr. Kempe poisoned 
you; if this is really the truth, answer by nine knocks. Answer 
was made by nine very loud and d/istinct knocks. Would it give you 
any satisfaction to have your body taken up?—Yes. Would the 
taking up and opening of your body lead to any material discovery? 
—Yes. 

On the following night the child was again removed, as secretly as 
possible, and conveyed to the house of the matron of St. Bartholo¬ 
mew’s Hospital. About twenty persons sat up in the room; but it 
was not till near six in the morning that the first alarm was given, 
which coming spontaneously, as well as suddenly, a good deal struck 
the imagination of those present. Again, altercation ensued, which was 
carried on with some warmth—some believing and some disbelieving 
the reality of the Spirit. When the dispute on this subject commenced, 
the Spirit took its leave, and no more knocking or scratching was 
heard. 

On Sunday night the girl lay at a house in Cock Lane; a person 
of distinction, two clergymen, and several other persons were present. 
Between ten and eleven the knocking began, and answers were again 
made by these knockings to various questions. At eleven o'clock, eleven 
distinct knocks were heard, aud at twelve o'clock, twelve; and on the 
Spirit being asked when it would return, seven knocks were given. 
Accordingly, when St. Sepulchre’s struck seven, on Monday morning, 
the invisible agent knocked the same number of times. Questions 

F F 


434 


THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 


were again asked, and every 'person was put out of the room who could 
he supposed to have the least connection with the girl; her hands were 
laid over the bed-clothes, the bed carefully tooled under, Sfc., hut no 
discovery was made. 

The girl was now (January 31) removed to the house of tlie Rev. 
Mr. Aldrich, Rector of St. John’s, Clerkenwell, where, after being 
undressed and examined, she was put to bed with proper caution, by 
several ladies (the bed, without any furniture, was set in the middle 
of a large room, and the chairs placed round it); many gentlemen 
eminent for their rank and character, at Mr. Aldrich’s invitation, 
were present. While deliberating, they were summoned into the 
girl’s chamber by the ladies who had been left with the girl, and who 
had heard knocks and scratches in the room. When the gentlemen 
entered, the girl declared that she felt the Spirit like a mouse upon 
her back; but in their presence no further manifestations were ob¬ 
tained. 

As the Spirit had by an affirmative knock before promised that it 
would attend one of the gentlemen into the vault where Mrs. 
Kempe’s body was deposited, and give a token of its presence there 
by a knock upon the coffin, the Spirit was now advertised that the 
person to whom this promise was made (the Rev. Mr. Moore) was 
about to visit the vault, and that the performance of this promise 
was then claimed. Accordingly, Mr. Moore, the celebrated Dr. 
Johnson, and another gentleman went into the vault, but nothing 
ensued. Mr. Kempe with several others then went down, but no 
effect was perceived.* On their return they examined the girl, but 
could draw no confession of imposture from her; and between two 
and three o’clock in the morning she was permitted to go home to 
her father. These gentlemen reported it as their opinion, “ that 
the child has some art of making or counterfeiting particular noises, 
and that there is no agency of any higher cause.” 

Further steps were made by other persons to find out where the 
fraud, if any, lay. The girl was removed from one place to another, 
and was said to be constantly attended with the usual noises, though 
bound and muffled hand and foot, and that without any motion in her 
lips, and when she appeared to be asleep —nay, they were often said 
to be heard in rooms at a considerable distance from that where she lap. 

* It appears that tlie girl was not taken into the vault: that “ nothing ensued,” is, therefore, 
just wliat might he expected; as it is now known that the presence of a medium is a necessary 
condition of the manifestations. 


THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 


435 


She was at last removed to the house of a gentleman, where her 
bed was tied up in the manner of a hammock, about a yard and a 
half from the ground, and her hands and feet extended as wide as 
they could be without injury, and fastened with fillets for two nights 
successively, during which no noises were heard. The next day 
being pressed to confess, and being told, that if the knocking and 
scratching were not heard any more, she, with her father cmd mother, 
would be sent to Newgate ; and half an hour being given her to con¬ 
sider, she desired she might be put to bed, to try if the noises would 
come. She lay in bed this night much longer than usual, but there 
were no noises. This was on a Saturday. 

Being told on Sunday, that the ensuing night only would be 
allowed for a trial, she concealed a board, about four inches broad 
and six long, under her stays; this board had been used to set the 
kettle upon. Having got into bed, she told the gentlemen she would 
bring Fanny at six the next morning. 

The master of the house and one of his friends being, however, 
informed by the maid that the girl had taken a board to bed with 
her, impatiently waited for the appointed hour, when she began to 
knock and scratch upon the board, remarking at the same time, 
what they themselves were convinced of, that “ these noises were not 
like those which used to be made” She was then told that she had 
taken a board to bed, and on her denying it, was searched and 
caught in the lie. 

The two gentlemen, who, with the maids, were the only persons 
present at this scene, sent to a third gentleman, to acquaint him 
that the whole affair was detected, and to desire his immediate at¬ 
tendance. He complied with their request, and brought another 
gentleman along with him. They all concurred that the child had 
been frightened into this attempt by the threats which had been made 
the preceding night. The master of the house and his friend both 
declared—“ That the noises the girl had made that morning, had not 
the least likeness to the former” 

At this stage of the proceedings, Mr. Kempe brought an action 
against Mr. and Mrs. Parsons, the Bev. Mr. Moore, Mr. James, a 
tradesman, and one Mary Frazer. They were convicted by a special 
jury, of a conspiracy against the life and character of Mr. Kempe. 
The trial lasted twelve hours, but judgment was respited, as Lord 
Mansfield wished to take the opinions of the other judges on this 
extraordinary case. The passing sentence was deferred for seven 

F F 2 


436 


THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 


or eight months, in hopes that the parties might make up the affair. 
Accordingly, the Eev. Mr. Moore and Mr. James were discharged 
on paying the prosecutor £300 and his costs, which amounted to 
nearly as much more. The printer and publisher of the narrative 
also made their peace with him; but Mr. Parsons was ordered to 
be set in the pillory three times in one month, and then to be im¬ 
prisoned two years; his wife to be imprisoned one year, and Mary 
Prazer six months, in Bridewell, and to be kept to hard labour. 

These proceedings drove poor Parsons out of his mind, and when 
exposed in the pillory, the people so far from using him ill made a 
handsome collection for him. The death of the Eev. Mr. Moore soon 
after, was popularly attributed to grief and vexation arising out of 
the case. 

The reader can now judge for himself whether the popular notion 
that this case was throughout an imposture, that “ the whole affair 
was detected,” is correct, or otherwise. Was the apparition, seen at 
different times by three different persons, shown to be an imposture ? 
Were the noises that constantly attended the girl, in all the sudden 
and secret removals of her to strange places amid strange company 
—and even when “ muffled and bound hand and foot, and without 
any motion in her lips;” and when asleep; heard too “in rooms 
at a considerable distance from that where she lay;” and at “the 
Wheat Sheaf a few doors off in the bed chamber of the landlord and 
landlady to the great affright and terror of them both:”—was this 
shown to be all an imposture? Did the reverend and learned gentle¬ 
men and the ladies who “ thoroughly examined” the matter detect 
the trick, or were they all bamboozled by a child 13 years of age, and 
who thus brought only persecution on herself and fines and im¬ 
prisonment, the pillory, and insanity on her parents, and those who 
took any active interest in her behalf? True, the gentlemen who 
went into the vault, and who (in the absence of a medium) did not 
hear the promised “ knock on the coffin,” though they had already 
had more knocks than they could account for, or be quite comfortable 
under, “reported it as their opinion, ‘that the girl has some art of 
making or counterfeiting noises, and that there is no agency of any 
higher cause;’ ” but this was “their opinion” only, and not a solitary 
fact had they to offer in support of it. 

If the girl possessed the “ art of making or counterfeiting par¬ 
ticular noises,” how was it that she did not exercise this “ art” when 
most anxious to do so, and when threatened to be sent with 


THE COCK-LANE GHOST. 


437 


her parents to Newgate if it was not exercised? When thus 
threatened and worried, she, poor thing, finding that the sounds 
did not come as before, had no other “ art” than a recourse to the 
clumsy and childish expedient of taking a kettle-board to bed, and 
scratching on it; in which, of course, she was at once detected; her 
very detectors admitting that she had been frightened into this 
attempt, “ and that the noises on this occasion had not the least 
likeness to the former.” It was, however, found necessary either to 
make the case out one of “ imposture,” or to “ admit the agency of 
a higher cause” in it; and as they were unwilling to accept the 
latter alternative, they were driven with or without evidence, to 
adopt the former. 

The writer of an article on “Modern Miracles,” in the New 
Quarterly Review, (No. 6) in his account of the Cock-Lane Ghost, 
tells us that:—“ Grave persons of high station, and not thought of as 
candidates for Bedlam, came away from Cock-Lane shaking their 
heads thoughtfully;”—that “James Penn, Stephen Aldrich, Bishop 
Douglas, and Doctor Johnson held a solemn investigation” into the 
case, and that “ the great moralist” drew up their report (the sub¬ 
stance of which I have here embodied). The Reviewer tells us that 
—“ The wainscots (of the room where the noises were) were pulled 
down, and the floor pulled up, but they saw no ghost and discovered 
no trick;” and he remarks, in conclusion:—“ Thus the Cock-Lane 
Ghost came off undiscovered at last.” 

Mr. Kempe’s guilt or innocence is not now the question—which is 
simply, whether or no the press is justified in systematically brand¬ 
ing this case as one of “ detected imposture P” I believe that there 
is a good deal of imposture in it as it is ordinarily represented, but 
that this imposture rests with those who ignorantly or wilfully 
ignore, or misrepresent the facts, and mislead those whom it is 
their province to instruct. 

The question of Spiritualism cannot now be affected by either the 
truth or falsehood of any alleged instance of spiritual agency, as 
such instances are now numbered by the hundred and the thousand, 
and have during the last fifteen years, been on all sides subject to 
the closest scrutiny; but when the press screams out “ Imposture.” 
—“ The whole affair is detected;” it may be well to remember that 
thait cry has been raised before, again and again; and when we find 
that their own pet instance—the one on which these writers confi¬ 
dently rely—and with which they most frequently twit the believers, 


438 


TESTIMONY. 


turns out, upon examination, to be no imposture, and that little 
else has been detected than their own attempt to represent it as 
one, it may suggest a wholesome suspicion that however useful the 
press may be, its statements are not to be implicitly trusted; and 
that the “smart men” who manufacture our intellectual pastry, 
sometimes yield to the temptation to “ cook” unpopular facts so as 
to adapt them to the public taste. 


APPENDIX E. 

TESTIMONY.* 

An inquiry into the value of testimony in its relation to Spirit- 
manifestations is, perhaps, of all others, the most useful and impor¬ 
tant in the present state of opinion upon this subject. It is one 
especially called for, inasmuch as of late years a theory has grown 
up exercising considerable influence over a large number of scienti¬ 
fic men, which, as far as it is received, destroys the value of, and 
renders inoperative, all testimony that may be presented in evidence 
of its truth. It may therefore serve as a fitting conclusion to the 
present volume. 

Alleged phenomena not admitting of mathematical demonstration, 
or verification by experiment at will, like facts in chemistry; and the 
relation of which to acknowledged laws is not immediately apparent, 
but which rest on the observation and veracity of witnesses—no 
matter how numerous or respectable, under the influence of this 
theory, are at once (and often contemptuously) rejected. The diffi¬ 
culty in these cases is not in convincing men when a spirit of earnest 
inquiry is once aroused, but in winning the serious attention of men 
who, without investigation, have, upon the high a priori ground of 
scientific theory, satisfied themselves that the alleged facts cannot be, 
—that they are contrary to the nature of things—in a word, impos¬ 
sible. It is not that the testimony is insufficient, but that no testi¬ 
mony can suffice. In vain you pile Ossa upon Pelion, and Pelion on 
Olympus; they shut their eyes, and will not deign to look at your 
piled mountains of evidence, were they to reach the skies. Your 
witnesses may throng the court, but they cannot obtain a hearing. 

* This chapter is little more than an exposition of, and carrying out the principles maintained 
in a pamphlet by Robert Chambees, entitled, Testimony: its Posture in the Scientific 
World ; and applying. An Essay that will well repay not only reading, but careful study. 



TESTIMONY. 


439 


Your appeal is met -with a smile of lofty incredulity and pitying 
scorn; you are told that the case is closed, and no further investiga¬ 
tion is needed. To obtain a hearing for these facts it is necessary 
then to move the previous question—to inquire into the value of 
testimony, and especially into its credibility in its bearings on this 
particular subject. 

Of the general value of testimony little need be said: the world 
has practically made up its mind to recognize it, except where rea¬ 
sonable ground of suspicion can be shown. Indeed, it has been com¬ 
pelled to do so, it could not get along for a day without it. It carries 
on its business, builds up its science, receives its history, educates 
its children, discounts its bills, and hangs its criminals on the 
strength of its general belief in human testimony. Law, justice, 
commerce, civil society itself would fall to pieces if it was absolutely 
and universally discredited. But it is alleged that testimony is to 
be received only where it accords with our experience, is in confor¬ 
mity with our acquired knowledge, and in harmony with the ascertain¬ 
ed laws of nature; but is at once to be set aside and rejected when 
it deviates from these. “ Before we proceed to consider any question 
involving physical principles, we should set out with clear ideas of 
the naturally possible and impossible,” says Professor Faraday. 
An d again he tells us :—“ The laws of nature, as we understand them, 
are the foundation of our knowledge in natural things.” And these 
he considers “as the proper test to which any new fact or our 
theoretical representation of it should, in the first place, be sub¬ 
jected.” He acknowledges that we are indeed under great obligation 
to the senses, but we must not trust them until the judgment has 
been largely cultivated for their guidance. “ Where this instruction 
is imperfect, it is astonishing how much and how soon their evidence 
fails us.” We are subject to woful mistakes “ in the interpretation 
of our mere sense impressions;” We have to contrive extra and 
special means, by which their first impressions shall be corrected or 
rather enlarged.” We must test them by those laws which “have 
become, as it were, our belief or trust.” Whatever is inconsistent 
with these must be false, no matter the nature and amount of testi¬ 
mony to the contrary. If “ society” does not accept this rule, it “ is 
not only ignorant as respects education of the judgment, but is also 
ignorant of its ignorance.” If, for instance, you believe in the 
alleged facts of table-moving, you “throw up Newton’s law (gravita¬ 
tion) at once;” whereas “the law affords the simplest means of 


440 


TESTIMONY. 


testing the fact.” An educated judgment, Faraday alleges, knows that 
it is “ impossible to create force. But, if we could by the fingers draw 
a heavy piece of wood upward without effort, and then, letting it 
sink, could produce, by its gravity, an effort equal to its weight, that 
would be a creation of power, and cannot be.” His conclusion is 
that the alleged facts of table-rising neither have occurred, nor can 
occur: the thing is “ impossible.”* The Rev. Baden Powell, in his 
work on The Order of Nature , and Sir John Forbes, in his work on 
Mesmerism , have expressed similar views. Substantially, they are 
the same with those of David Hume and Spinoza, though these 
bolder reasoners pushed their application much farther.-)* Hume, in 
his well-known essay on Miracles, reasons like Faraday as to 
errors arising from delusion and deception and the love of the mar¬ 
vellous, and that what we have to consider chiefly is, not the testi¬ 
mony, but its subject-matter. If this does not co-ordinate with 
ascertained natural law, it cannot be entertained. To establish a 
miracle, he argues, would require an amount and a degree of testi¬ 
mony, the falsehood of which would be “ more miraculous than the 
fact it endeavours to establish.” Ho such testimony can be had, 
therefore miracles are not capable of proof. “ A miracle is a violation 
of the laws of nature, and as a firm and unalterable experience has 
established these laws, the proof against a miracle is as entire as any 
argument from experience can possibly be.” We have here only for 
the word “ miracle” to substitute “ Spirit-manifestations,” and the 
argument of the physicist is precisely expressed. Faraday tries to 
evade this dilemma by claiming “ an absolute distinction between 
religious and ordinary belief:” thus he receives the truth of a future 
life “ through simple belief of the testimony given.” “ I shall be 
reproached,” he adds, “ with the weakness of refusing to apply those 
mental operations which I think good in respect of high things to 
the very highest.” For my part, I rejoice in this “ weakness;” it 
illustrates that “ the heart may give a useful lesson to the head,” 
and instinctively cling to truth, despite a lame and halting logic. 
But if the inconsistency be a noble one, still it is an inconsistency, 

* That these are the deliberate views of Professor Faraday, is evident from his re-publishing 
them in his Experimental Researches in Chemistry, five years after their original delivery in a 
lecture at the Royal Institution. 

t Much farther, at least, than Faraday, or Sir John Forbes. The Rev. Baden Powell, in the 
work cited, and in the celebrated Essays and Reviews, though he draws some fine distinctions, 
is driven by the premises adopted, to conclusions not materially different from those of David 
Hume. 


TESTIMONY. 


441 


and Faraday’s rule of judgment in other hands has been applied (logi¬ 
cally enough) in a way which he would most anxiously deprecate. 
A religion having an historical basis—whose sacred books record a 
series of wonderful acts which do not co-ordinate with “ the laws of 
nature as we understand them,” but which appealed to the senses of 
men, and are received by us upon the testimony of witnesses—of 
men whose judgment had not been cultivated in a marked degree 
above their fellows, but whom we should now regard as sadly 
unlettered and unscientific, cannot but be undermined by that 
canon of judgment which Faraday and other modern physical 
philosophers are doing all they can to urge upon our acceptance. 

The claim that there is “ an absolute distinction between religious 
and ordinary belief,” is altogether gratuitous and unwarranted. 
There is no difference in the nature of belief; it is the same whether 
the thing believed be sacred or secular, and is simply the assent of 
the judgment to a fact or proposition on the evidence presented. 
Nor can historical facts, as matters of observation and testimony, be 
differenced from other facts. The signs, and wonders, and mighty 
works recorded in the Scriptures, appealed to the senses of ordi¬ 
nary men, and challenged their belief in them as much as in the 
facts of common life. The Scriptures nowhere assume that the 
senses are so fallacious that they should only be trusted when in¬ 
structed by a highly cultivated judgment, and that their truth should 
be tested by their conformity with “ the laws of nature as we under¬ 
stand them.” I remark with all reverence, that Jesus did not warn 
inquirers, that “ as a first step,” “ clear ideas should be obtained of 
what is possible or impossible,” or of the danger there was in judging 
of things “ extraordinary for the time,” by the “ teachings sufficient 
for ordinary purposes.” Quite different from this: his language 
was:—“ Go, tell John those things which ye do hear and see.” Why 
thus appeal to the signs and mighty works he wrought, if the 
senses of men were incompetent to rightly observe what they wit¬ 
nessed P 

Let it not be supposed for a moment that I place the Spirit- 
manifestations of our, or of any time, on a level with those won¬ 
derful works recorded in Scripture to which I have referred; I would 
only point out that if we accept those greater wonders on human 
testimony, we cannot consistently reject these lesser wonders if also 
sufficiently sustained by human testimony. If, in the major case, 
we refuse to set aside testimony on the plea that the facts attested 


442 


TESTIMONY. 


transcend common experience, we cannot avail ourselves of it to put 
the minor case out of court, and beyond a hearing. 

When Hume appealed against miracles “ to a firm and unalterable 
experience,” Dr. Campbell very effectively reminded him that the 
facts which he repudiated were a part of that universal experience 
and showed conclusively that that experience was not unalterable, 
and consequently that his argument was “ an example' of that para¬ 
logism called begging the question.” And the same answer may be 
given to the argument when it is directed against Spirit-manifesta¬ 
tions, which, also, are a part of the universal experience of men in 
all ages. The sceptical method of Hume, adopted by Faraday and 
other physical philosophers, runs in a vicious circle. As Chambers 
shrewdly points out, according to their theory—“You cannot know 
whether a fact be a fact till you have ascertained the laws of nature 
in the case; and you cannot know the laws of nature till you have 
ascertained facts. You must not profess to have learned anything 
till you have ascertained if it be possible; and this you cannot 
ascertain till you have learned everything.” 

Who can fix the boundaries of the “ naturally possible P” The 
venerable Arago, so highly and justly eulogised by Faraday, has 
declared that—“He who, outside of mathematics, pronounces the 
word impossible, lacks prudence.” Professor De Morgan observes 
that—“ The natural philosopher, when he imagines a physical im¬ 
possibility which is not an inconceivability, merely states that his 
phenomenon is against all that has been hitherto known of the 
course of nature. Before he can compass an impossibility, he has a 
huge postulate to ask of his reader or hearer, a postulate which 
nature never taught—it is that the future is always to agree with 
the past. How do you know that this sequence of phenomena 
always will be? Answer.—Because it must be. But how do you 
know that it must be ? Answer.—Because it always has been. But 
then, even granting that it always has been, how do you know that 
what always has been always will be? Answer.—I feel my mind 
compelled to that conclusion. And how do you know that the 
leanings of your mind are always toward truth? Because I am 
infallible, the answer ought to be; but this answer is never given.”* 
La Place, remarks that—“We are so far from knowing all the 
agents of nature and their various modes of action, that it would not 

* The Athenaeum, No. 1637. See also De Morgan’s observations on what he calls the "Fourth 
Court of human knowledge,” in Preface to From Matter to Spirit , p. xxx. 


TESTIMONY. 


443 


be philosophical to deny any phenomena merely because in the actual 
state of our knowledge they are inexplicable. This only we ought to 
do: in proportion to the difficulty there seems to be in admitting 
them should be the scrupulous attention we bestow on their exami¬ 
nation.” And Humboldt, avers that—“ A presumptuous scepticism 
which rejects facts without examination of their truth, is in some 
respects more injurious than an unquestioning credulity.” In con¬ 
formity with the above authorities, it is remarked by John Stuart 
Mill (perhaps the most close and careful reasoner of the present 
day) that—“ The laws of number and extension, to which we may 
add the law of causation itself, are probably the only ones, an 
exception to which is absolutely and for ever incredible. ... Of no 
assertion not in contradiction to some of these very general laws, 
will more than improbability be asserted by any cautious person; 
and improbability not of the highest degree, unless the time and 
place in which the fact is said to have occurred, render it almost 
certain that the anomaly, if real, could have been overlooked by 
other observers. Suspension of judgment is in all other cases the 
resource of the judicious inquirer; provided the testimony in favour 
of the anomaly presents, when well sifted, no suspicious circum¬ 
stances.” And, in a foot-note, he adds—“ As to the impossibilities 
which are reputed such on no other grounds than our ignorance of any 
cause capable of producing them, very few of them are either im¬ 
possible or incredible.” And, in a previous page of his work on 
Logic (vol. ii, p. 158) he points out that—“ In order that any alleged 
fact should be contradictory to a law of causation, the allegation 
must be, not simply that the cause existed without being followed by 
the effect, for that would be no uncommon occurrence, but that this 
happened in the absence of any adequate counteracting cause. I attach 
great importance to the words italicised, in their bearing on the 
facts alleged by Spiritualists, and denied by Professor Faraday. 
Even Dr. Ferriar, who laboured with all his might to disprove the 
reality of spiritual appearances, urges that “ to disqualify the senses, 
or the veracity of those who witness unusual appearances, is the 
utmost tyranny of prejudice.” Professor Faraday’s illustrious prede¬ 
cessor, Sir Humphrey Davey, estimates the value cf direct experi¬ 
ment so highly above all speculative reasoning that he declares:— 
“ One good experiment is of more value than the ingenuity of a 
brain like Newton’s.” And, againFacts are independent of 
fashion, taste, and caprice, and are subject to no code of criticism; 


TESTIMONY. 


they are more useful, perhaps, even when they contradict, than 
when they support received doctrines, for our theories are only 
imperfect approximations to tlie real knowledge of things.” The 
same temper of mind eminently distinguished Sir Isaac Newton. 
Dr. Chalmers tells us:—“ He wanted no other recommendation for 
any one article of science, than the recommendation of evidence —and 
with this recommendation he opened to it the chamber of his mind, 
though authority scowled upon it, and taste was disgusted by it, and 
fashion was ashamed of it, and all the beauteous speculations of 
former days was cruelly broken up by this new announcement of the 
better philosophy, and scattered like the fragments of an aerial 
vision, over which the past generations of the world had been 
slumbering their profound and their pleasing reverie.” 

Nothing can well be more striking than the view of testimony 
I am controverting, and that maintained in the preceding quota¬ 
tions, and held, if that be possible, even more strongly, by the most 
eminent writers on mental philosophy, and on the Christian Evi¬ 
dences. Dugald Stewart holds, “ unlimited scepticism” to be “ as 
much the child of imbecility as unlimited credulity.” Dr. Aber¬ 
crombie considers “the reception of facts upon the evidence of 
testimony” as—“A fundamental principle of our nature to be acted 
upon whenever we are satisfied that the testimony possesses certain 
characters of credibility. These are chiefly referable to three heads:— 
that the individual has had sufficient opportunity of ascertaining the 
facts; that we have confidence in his power of judging of their 
accuracy; and that we have no suspicion of his being influenced 
by passion or prejudice in his testimony; or, in other words, 
that we believe him to be an honest witness. Our confidence 
is further strengthened by several witnesses concurring in the 
same testimony, each of whom has had the same opportunities of 
ascertaining the facts, and presents the same character of truth and 
honesty. On such testimony we are in the constant habit of re¬ 
ceiving statements which are much beyond the sphere of our personal 
observation, and widely at variance with our experience.” He pro¬ 
ceeds to “ trace the principles by which a man of cultivated mind is 
influenced, in receiving upon testimony statements which are rejected 
by the vulgar as totally incredible ;” one of which, specially deserving 
of note is, that “ he has learned from experience not to make his own 
knowledge the test of probability.” Abercrombie admits, as all rea¬ 
sonable men must do, that statements “in accordance with facts 


TESTIMONY. 


445 


which we already know, are received upon a lower degree of evidence 
than those which are not in such accordance; but we should beware 
of allowing a salutary caution to influence us beyond its 
proper sphere.” “ The foundation of incredulity,” in regard to the 
“marvellous,” he tells us, “is generally,” not a highly cultivated 
judgment, but “ignorance.” It “is the part of a contracted mind 
which reasons upon imperfect data, or makes its own knowledge and 
extent of observation the standard and test of probability.” Ex¬ 
perience prepares us to believe marvels rather than reject them. 
He quotes La Place, that the more improbable a statement is, in 
which, without connivance, witnesses agree, the greater is the 
probability of its truth. “ Even a miraculous event,” which Aber¬ 
crombie defines as “ being directly opposed to what every man knows 
to be the established and uniform course of nature” may still be 
established on “ the highest species of testimony, or that on which 
we rely with the same confidence as on the uniformity of the course 
of nature itself.” 

The apologists of Christianity, in treating of its external evidences, 
are compelled, as the foundation of their arguments, to assume the 
integrity of the senses, and the validity of testimony in relation to 
the most extraordinary acts when attested by credible witnesses. 
Paley says, “the reality of miracles always must be proved by 
testimony;” and he, at the outset, protests against the prejudication 
involved in the objection of Hume, “ that no human testimony can in 
any case render them credible.” He points out the ambiguity lurk¬ 
ing in such phrases as “experience,” and “contrary to experience;” 
remarking that—“ The narrative of a fact is then only contrary to 
experience when the fact is related to have existed at a time and 
place, at which time and place we, being present, did not perceive it 
to exist.... to state concerning the fact in question that no such 
thing was ever experienced, or that universal experience is against 
it, is to assume the subject of the controversy;” and he specially 
urges the importance attaching to the testimony of men of known 
“ probity and good sense;” and in relation to facts “ wrought before 
their eyes, and in which it was impossible they should be deceived.” 
So, Dr. Chalmers, asks concerning those who testified to the gospel 
miracles :—“ Had they the manner and physiognomy of honest men ? 
Was their testimony resisted, and did they persevere in it ? Had 
they any interest in fabricating the message, or did they suffer in 
consequence of this perseverance? .... Were these miracles so obvi- 


446 


TESTIMONY. 


ously addressed to the senses as to leave no suspicion of deceit 
behind P” “ On the solution of these (points) do we rest the question 
of the truth of the Christian religion.” The supposition that these 
witnesses may have been mistaken, he considers is “ destroyed by 
the nature of the subject. It was not testimony to a doctrine which 
might deceive the understanding. It was something more than 
testimony to a dream or a trance, or a midnight fancy, which might 
deceive the imagination. It was testimony to a multitude and a 
succession of palpable facts, which could never have deceived the 
senses , and which preclude all possibility of mistake, even though it 
had been the testimony of only one individual.” He follows the 
Baconian philosophy, and learns “ by descending to the sober work 
of seeing, mad. feeling, and experimenting,” and he prefers what has 
been “ seen by one pair of eyes, to all reasoning and guessing .” He 
does not propose that we only receive the marvellous facts of Scrip¬ 
ture if we cannot explain them away; nor call upon us to start on 
our inquiry with a clear understanding of what is possible or impos¬ 
sible, and to reject whatever is contrary to gravitation, or any other 
natural law; but on “ entering into any department of inquiry,” he 
considers the first preparation to be “ that docility of mind which 
is founded on a sense of our total ignorance of the subject.” 

In speaking of the “ laws of nature,” we are too apt to forget that 
these laws do not all move on one plane, that they are complex 
though harmonious; that in their orderly march they move in dis- 
creted series—mechanical, dynamical, chemical, vital; physical, in¬ 
tellectual, moral, spiritual; that in their play and inter-action, these 
laws obey the one law of subordination of the lower to the higher; 
thus the law of gravitation, (as in the motion of our limbs,) is sub¬ 
ordinate to the higher law of volition; the chemical law, that un¬ 
checked dissolves our physical frames into their constituent elements, 
is in like manner subordinate to the law of life; and thus spiritual 
laws and forces underlie and hold in subordination all merely material 
laws and forces, so that that which is beyond and above nature, is 
not necessarily therefore contrary to it, nor inoperative because not 
subject to experiment in our retorts and batteries, and unknown in 
the laboratories. As has been ably pointed out by Archbishop 
Trench, in his Notes on the Miracles, that which may seem to be 
against a law of nature, when that law is “ contemplated in its isola¬ 
tion, and rent away from the complex of laws of which it forms a 
part,” may yet be “ in entire harmony with the system of laws ; for 


TESTIMONY. 


447 


the law of those laws is, that where powers come into conflict, the 
weaker shall give place to the stronger, the lower to the higher. ,, 
“ The miracle,” he tells us, “ is not the violation of law, but that 
which continually, even in this natural world, is taking place, the 
comprehension of a lower law in an higher; in this case, the compre¬ 
hension of a lower natural in an higher spiritual law, with only such 
modifications of the lower as are necessarily consequent upon this.” 
And in a foot note on another page, he remarks :—“ When Spinoza 
- affirmed that nothing can happen in nature which opposes its univer¬ 
sal laws, he acutely saw that even then he had not excluded the 
miracle, and therefore to clench the exclusion, added— aut quod ex 
iisdem [ legibus ] non sequitur. But all which experience can teach 
us is, that these powers which are working in our world will not 
reach to these effects. Whence dare we to conclude, that because 
none which we know will bring them about, so none exist which 
will do so? They exceed the laws of our nature, but it does not 
therefore follow that they exceed the laws of all nature. If the ani¬ 
mals were capable of a reflective act, man would appear a miracle to 
them, as the angels do to us, and as the animals would themselves 
appear to a lower circle of organic life. The comet is a miracle as 
regards our solar system ; that is, it does not own the laws of our 
system, neither do those laws explain it. Yet is there a higher and 
wider law of the heavens, whether fully discovered or not, in which 
its motions are included as surely as those of the planets which 
stand in immediate relation to our sun.” 

Is there anything in the nature of the facts attested by Spiritual¬ 
ists (and by many who are non-Spiritualists) which renders it im¬ 
possible or even difficult to form a correct judgment as to the reality 
of their occurrence ? Take a few instances at random, as they occur 
to me; and I now advert in illustration to the facts of the present 
day rather than of past time, as the witnesses are, most of them still 
among us.—A distinguished London physician and physiologist, 
Dr. Wilkinson, in an account. of a seance he attended, mentions 
among other phenomena witnessed by him, that a hand-bell which 
had been brought by one of the party was rung by an invisible 
agency; at the same time as it moved towards himself, he says, “I 
moved my fingers up its side to grasp it. When I came to the 
handle, I slid my fingers on rapidly, and now, every hand but my own 
being on the table , I distinctly felt the fingers, up to the palm, of a 
hand holding the bell. It was a soft, warm, fleshy, radiant, substan- 


448 


TESTIMONY. 


tial hand, such as I should be glad to feel at the extremity of the 
friendship of my best friends. But I had no sooner grasped it momen¬ 
tarily, than it melted away, leaving me void, with the bell in my hand. 
I now held the bell tightly, with the clapper downwards, and while 
it remained perfectly still, I could plainly feel fingers ringing it by 
the clapper. As a point of observation I will remark, that I should 
feel no more difficulty in swearing that the member I felt was a 
human hand of extraordinary life, and not Mr. Home’s foot, than 
that the nose of the Apollo Belvidere is not a horse’s ear. I dwell 
chiefly, because I can speak surely, of what happened to myself, 
though every one round the table had somewhat similar experiences. 
The bell was carried under the table to each, and rung in the hand 

of each. They all felt the hand or hands, either upon their 

knees or other portion of their limbs. I put my hand down as 
previously, and was regularly stroked on the back of it by a soft, 
palpable hand as before. Hay, I distinctly felt the whole arm against 
mine, and once grasped the hand, but it melted, as on the first occa¬ 
sion. While this was going on, and for about ten minutes, 

more or less, my wife felt the sleeves of her dress pulled frequently, 
and as she was sitting with her finger-ends clasped and hands open, 
with palms semi-prone upon the table, she suddenly laughed in¬ 
voluntarily, and said ‘ Oh! see, there is a little hand lying between 
mine; and now a larger hand has come beside it. The little hand 
is smaller than any baby’s, and exquisitely perfect.’ At a subse¬ 
quent seance at Mr. Bymer’s house at Ealing, he describes a similar 
experience. The hand on this occasion purported (in a communi¬ 
cation made) to be that of a deceased and intimate friend, “ once a 
member of Parliament, and as much before the public as any man in 
his generation.” “ I said,” continues the narrator, “ if it is really 
you, will you shake hands with me ?” and I put my hand under the 
table; and now’ the same soft and capacious hand was placed in 
mine, and gave it a cordial shaking. I could not help exclaiming, 

‘ This hand i& a portrait. I know it. from five years’ constant inter¬ 
course, and from the daily grasp and holding of the last several 
months.’ ” Others who were present at these seances —Mr Bymer, 
Mr. Coleman, and Mrs. Trollope, in particular—have corroborated 
the testimony of this writer. 

Again, a celebrated critic, Robert Bell, in his famous article in 
the Gornhill Magazine, gives an example of what he says—“ T have 
seen several times the table rising entirely unsupported into the 




TESTIMONY. 


449 


air;” and not only so, but of the medium also rising entirely un¬ 
supported into the air and being floated about in the apartment, 
as well as of other phenomena equally marvellous, confirmed by Dr. 
Gully, of Malvern, one of the witnesses ; but which I need not here 
recapitulate, as they have been prominently before the public. Another 

writer, Dr. ft-, a gentleman holding a responsible position in 

one of our most valuable institutions (and whose testimony 
is the more valuable as, in an elaborate article in a scientific 
quarterly,* he had previously, following the false lead of Faraday, 
denied that such facts were possible), relates that at his own 
house—“A large heavy oak table, five feet by seven feet, was 
frequently lifted up and moved about the room, and this not by 
any of the four persons present. Again, a writing table, on 
which the four witnesses seated themselves, was twice tilted over 
with a strange unearthly facility, and they landed on the floor.” 
Again, “a heavy circular table, made of birch, and strongly con¬ 
structed,” after sundry strange performances detailed by him, was, 
at his request, he tells us, “ smashed and broken, and one fragment 
thrown across the room, the table at the time being held by the 
writer and Mr. Squire. This occurred in half a minute. The 
writer has since vainly endeavoured, with all his strength, to break 
one of the remaining legs. The one broken was rent across the 
grain of the wood.” These and other phenomena, including direct 
writing by invisible agency, the writer of the article affirms were 
“ subject to the most searching scrutiny.” The direct writing is a 
phenomenon attested by Baron Goldenstubbe, of Paris, who has 
published fac-similes of such communications written in various 
languages,—by the Count D’Ourches,— by Professor Georgii, and by 
the Hon. Robert Dale Owen, the late American Minister to Naples. 
The direct Spirit-drawings, executed in a few seconds in the presence 
of Mr. Coleman and a most intelligent circle of inquirers, and 
of which fac-similes, with the signatures of the attesting witnesses, 
are given in his Spiritualism in America; together with the 
testimonies to other phases of the manifestation of Dr. Collyer, 
Mr. Hutchinson, the late chairman of the Stock Exchange Mr. 
William Howitt, Mr. and Mrs. Crossland, Mr. T. P. Barkas, and 
others, are also before the public.f I might dwell upon the fact 

* The Asylum Journal of Medical Science. 

t For particulars, see Mr. Crossi.and’s Essay «n Apparitions; Mrs. Crosslawd’s Light in 
the Valley; Mr. Barkans Outline* of Ten Years' Investigations; and the Spiritual Magazine. 

G G 



450 


TESTIMONY. 


that these -writers are “persons of cultivated judgment,” tolerably 
familiar with those ologies and ographies which are rightly believed 
to have a special value in the discipline of the mind; and that 
they are only samples of a long list of educated and highly qualified 
witnesses, such as the late Professor Hare,* who had spent half a 
century in scientific investigations, and Judge Er>MONDS,-f whose life 
has been chiefly spent in judicial investigations of the most intricate 
and difficult nature, and both of whom have certified the genuineness 
of the manifestations, and their conviction of their spiritual origin 
after a long and most searching course of experimental investiga¬ 
tion. But in truth, whatever weight may justly attach to the testi¬ 
mony of men of known ability and attainments, any man of ordinary 
intelligence and powers of observation is generally able to judge 
in an almost equal degree, of what Chalmers calls, “ plain palpable 
facts” under his own observation. Any man, for instance, who can 
“ tell a hawk from a hand-saw,” can tell whether a table is resting 
on the floor, or is raised above it: whether a man is sitting in his 
chair, or is floating in the atmosphere of the room: whether sounds 
made by no visible agency, and which respond to his questions, 
mental or otherwise, are heard or not: whether a strong heavy table 
is at his request broken in fragments by no visible agency, “in 
about half a minute,” or whether it remains whole. These things, 
and such as these, which rest on “ seeing, and feeling, and experi¬ 
menting,” are so plain and palpable that the man who could not 
judge of their reality might conscientiously say with Dogberry, 
“ write me down an ass.” It is very easy to pronounce these things 
impossible, to say that they “ cannot be;” but that which does happen 
can happen; and to tell people that an educated judgment would 
convince them that they did not see what they saw, and did not feel 
what they felt, can only furnish an illustration of that particular 
species of rhetoric the Americans call bosh. As a disciple of the 
Baconian philosophy, I cannot subscribe to that reasoning which 
denies facts when they do not square with our prejudgments and 
accommodate themselves to our favourite theories. 

As remarked by Bishop Hay “ The proof we receive from the 
testimony of our senses in those things which properly belong to 
them is an invincible proof which convinces by the fixed laws of our 
nature with as much assurance as we could have from the strictest 

* Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations. By Robert Hare, ‘TVI.D. 

t Spiritualism, Vol. I; Introduction By John W. Edmonds. 


TESTIMONY. 


451 


demonstration. Nay, when either from the disorder of the medium, 
or the unsoundness of the organ, or any other usual circumstances, 
we suspect that any of our senses deceive us in some particular in¬ 
stance, we have no other way to examine and correct this deceit 
but what must rest at last on this truth, that our senses, when 
properly applied, give absolute certainty about their proper objects, 
and that concerning these we must trust our senses previously to 
all reasoning whatsoever. See Beattie’s Essay on Truth, Chap. II., 

§ 2 .” 

Even those who deny and deride the manifestations and reject 
all testimony in their favour, yet, with strange inconsistency, build 
their faith in other matters equally wonderful and foreign to common 
experience, solely on human testimony. Thus, Mr. Dickens, who 
loses no opportunity to pour ridicule and scorn on the facts of 
Spiritualism, and on those who are credulous enough to credit them; 
believes in, and defends the reality of, the spontaneous combustion of 
the living human body; (which, if true, is a phenomenon far more 
rare than any attributed to spiritual agency), and this, in the teeth 
of scientific evidence to show that spontaneous combustion could 
not possibly be. Why then does Mr. Dickens believe in and defend 
it P Simply because he finds that—“ There are about thirty cases on 
recordand, as he thinks, well-attested. He cites the authorities, 
and accepts the facts, wholly and entirely on human testimony* 
Evidently the race who strain at the gnat and swallow the camel 
is not yet extinct. As a Spiritualist, I may, to quote Mr. Dickens, 
“ content myself with observing that I shall not abandon the facts 
until there shall have been a considerable Spontaneous Combustion 
of the testimony on which human occurrences are generally received.” 

In a pamphlet on Spiritualism, the Roman Catholic Bishop op Mans 
writes:—“ It is impossible to call in question all the facts attributed 
to the intervention of Spirits: that would be to destroy the very 
foundations of historical certainty, and throw ourselves into universal 
pyrhonism. . . . The facts multiply to such a degree, are attested by 

* See Bleak House , Preface, and p.329; and Mr. G. H. Lewes’s Letters on Spontaneous 
Combustion in the Leader, Feb. 5th and 12th, 1853. In these Letters, Mr. Lewes quotes as 
authorities against Mr. Dickens, Liebig, Bischoff, Regnault, Graham, Hoffmann, and Owen; 
and, (unkindest cut of all,) he reminds him that testimonies might be quoted in favour of witch¬ 
craft, clairvoyance, and spirit-rapping. Mr. Dickens takes no notice of this home-thrust, but in 
a private note to Mr. Lewes, (adverted to in the Leader , March 26, 1853,) he writes“ I 
examined the subject (spontaneous combustion,) as a judge might have done, and without 
laying down any law upon the case.” It is a pity that other phenomena about which he writes, 
have not been examined by him in the same spirit. 


G G 2 


452 


TESTIMONY. 


so many persons worthy of faith, who certainly have no disposition 
to deceive, ani have taken all possible precautions not to be them¬ 
selves deceived, that we no longer see any way of denying them; 
otherwise we must doubt everything, for facts clothed with these 
conditions are elevated to the rank of historical certainty.” To the 
same effect, Professor Challis, of Cambridge, in a letter to the 
Clerical Journal , while disclaiming any knowledge from personal 
observation of table-moving, spirit-rapping, spirit mediums, &c., 
writes:—“ But I have been unable to resist the large amount of testimony 
to such facts which has come from many independent sources, and from 
a vast number of witnesses. England, France, Germany, the United 
States of America, with most of the other nations of Christendom, 
contributed simultaneously their quota of evidence. So prevalent 
was the practice of table-turning in France that the Archbishop of 
Paris deemed it necessary to address a circular to his countrymen, 
warning them against abandoning themselves to Satanic influence. 
In short, the testimony has been so abundant and consentaneous, that 
either the facts must be admitted to be such as they were reported, or the 
'possibility of certifying facts by human testimony must be given up.” 

We are sometimes reminded of the importance of distinguishing 
between the facts we witness, and the inferences we deduce from 
them. Very true. But our first question is as to the possibility 
and reality of the facts. We are only concerned with that at present. 
The inferences are quite capable of taking care of themselves, we can 
leave them to do so with confidence, and have no doubt they will 
make short work of it. 

An illustration of the mode of reasoning on which I have 
animadverted, is to be found in an article in the Saturday Review 
on Mr. Coleman’s Spiritualism in America. The Saturday Re¬ 
viewer says:—“Mr. Coleman may be a trustworthy person, and 
above all suspicion as to his good faith; but if Mr. Coleman and Dr. 
Gray, and twenty attesting witnesses were to go before the magistrates 
at Bow Street and solemnly depose that, on Monday morning last 
they saw the'lion on Northumberland House walk down and take a 
bath in the Trafalgar Square fountains, what would their testimony 
be worth ? There are, therefore, certain alleged facts in favour of 
which all the evidence, however supported by the good faith and 
respectability of the witnesses, is not worth a rush. The facts quoted 
from Mr. Coleman’s narrative are of this nature; and there is an end 
of the matter.” 


TESTIMONY. 


453 


If there be any force and relevancy in this argument as applied to 
Spiritualism, it must resfion the assumption that “the facts quoted 
from Mr. Coleman’s narrative are of this nature.” Are they so ? Is 
there any analogy between the actual and the supposed case ? If we 
disbelieve “ twenty attesting witnesses” to the walking and bathing 
of the stone lion on Northumberland House, we presume it would 
be because we are familiar with the properties of stone, and know, 
as far as it is possible to know by observation and experiment, that, 
whether formed into the figure of a lion or any other animal, it could 
possess no power of locomotion or of volition: and we should reject 
the testimony or the inference which attributed to it, or implied, its 
possession of these qualities. Had we no knowledge or experience 
bearing on the case, we should be as incompetent to determine the 
nature and capabilities of a stone lion, as the savage was of the watch, 
which he thought was a living creature. “ Poor thing,” said he, “ it 
died the same night as I got it.” Now, are we as familiar with the 
nature and capabilities of the disembodied human spirit as with the 
properties of stone ? Have we analyzed it, and manipulated it, and 
observed and experimented with it, so that we can say with equal 
confidence what it can, and what it cannot do, what are its powers, 
and their limitations ? Are we prepared to say that under no cir¬ 
cumstances and conditions can a Spirit render itself sensible to sight 
and touch, or operate upon the imponderable elements, or the grosser 
forms of matter ? That the embodied human spirit can overcome 
the resistance of gravitation, and suspend the operation of physical 
laws, we have every day of our lives demonstration in our own 
persons. Are we quite sure that when this natural body is exchanged 
for a spiritual body, it will not in any degree possess the same 
powers ? And if we cannot make these assertions, are we justified 
in rejecting all testimony to the actual exercise of such powers? 
Can it reasonably be asserted, that in attributing the “manifesta¬ 
tions” to spiritual agency, we are assigning a cause inadequate to 
the effect ? Supposing not only that “ attesting witnesses solemnly 
deposed, that on Monday morning last, they saw the lion on North¬ 
umberland House walk down and take a bath in Trafalgar-Square 
fountains,” but that another set of attesting witnesses had solemnly 
deposed to a similar occurrence seen by them on the previous Mon¬ 
day morning; and that similar testimony had been borne at different 
times by independent witnesses, acting without collusion, and of 
known intelligence and integrity, for a series of years past; and this 


454 


TESTIMONY. 


not only in London, but in Paris, Naples, Borne, Berlin, and New 
York; and, further, that upon investigation it was found that a 
similar testimony had been borne by reverend and learned men in 
various ages and nations, and that the belief in such occurrences was 
in fact a part of the general faith of mankind: then, we apprehend, 
w r e should not be warranted in rejecting testimony to such facts, 
however strange. The cause of them might indeed remain an open 
question when the facts were admitted; in attempting to assign it, 
we should, of course, be guided by a consideration of all the attend¬ 
ant circumstances. If, for instance, the movements of stone figures 
were obviously governed by intelligence, and this intelligence 
entered into, and sustained communication with us through these 
lifeless figures, as well as by other agencies, and claimed to proceed 
from our departed ancestry, and sustained that claim by rational 
evidence, then, we think, it would not be unreasonable to admit, 
a spiritual manifestation in the case; and this would, we admit, be 
something like an analogy with certain phases of spirit-manifestation 
with which we are becoming familiar. For it must be borne in mind, 
that though we sometimes hear of “ talking-tables,” and in colloquial 
freedom permit the phrase, yet it is really as absurd as it would be 
to speak of the electric telegraph as “talking wires.” What we 
mean in either case, is that an intelligent being is behind the wire or 
the table, using it as an instrument of speech. The more completely 
you prove that the phenomena in question are not due to, and are 
impossible by any physical agency, the more completely do you 
establish their necessary spiritual causation.* 

Scientific men should learn from experience to be cautious in 
affirming the limits of the possible. Those who have erected theories 
about the impossible, have not unfrequently built a monument to 
their own folly and shame. The circulation of the blood, the preven¬ 
tion of small-pox by vaccination, the fall of meteorolites, the lighting 
of towns by gas, conveyance by steam, painless surgery, clairvoyance, 
—these, and many other things now familiar to us, have, each in its 
turn, been pronounced impossible by high authorities. One age 
laughs at an idea, the next adopts it. The impossibility of yesterday 
is the familiar fact of to-day. In an age when steam is our conduc¬ 
tor, and electricity our messenger, and the sun our portrait painter; 
when the every-day facts of life would have been a fairy tale a hun¬ 
dred years ago; who, especially with the knowledge that spiritual 
* See remarks of Dr. Brownson, quoted page 357. 


TESTIMONY. 


455 


forces are "working around and within us, will have the presumption 
to affirm that it is impossible for spiritual beings so to operate upon 
ourselves and surrounding objects, as to make their presence evident 
even to our senses. Lord Bacon says:—“We have set it down a^ a 
law to ourselves, to examine things to the bottom, and not to receive 
upon credit, or to reject upon improbabilities, until there hath 
passed a due examination.” And to the same effect, Sir John Her- 
schel remarks, that—“Before experience itself can be used with 
advantage, there is one preliminary step to make, which depends 
wholly on ourselves : it is” (not the “ first step” on which Faraday 
insists, but) “ the absolute dismissal and clearing the mind of all 
prejudice, from whatever source arising, and the determination to 
stand and fall by the result of a direct appeal to facts in the first 
instance, and of strict logical deduction from them afterwards.” 
And in another page of the Discourse on the Study of Natural Philo¬ 
sophy, he tells us:—“The perfect observer in any department of 
science, will have his eyes as it were opened, that they may be struck 
at once with any occurrence, which, according to received theories, 
ought not to happen, for these are the facts which serve as clues to 
new discoveries.” This is the principle which Spiritualists adopt in 
their investigations. The opposite principle, avowed by Faraday, is 
thus expressed by him in a letter to the Times newspaper:—“ The 
effect produced by table-turners has been referred to electricity, to 
magnetism, to attraction, to some unknown, or hitherto unrecog¬ 
nized physical nower able to affect inanimate bodies, to the revolution 
of the earth, and even to diabolical or supernatural agency. The 
natural philosopher can investigate all these supposed causes but the 
last; that must to him be too much connected with credulity or 
superstition to require any attention on his part.” This is the same 
view as is taken of miracles by Hume, viz., that “ supported by 
human testimony, it is more properly a subject of derision than of 
argument.” Whether the canon of investigation laid down by Bacon 
and Herschel, or that of Faraday, is the more worthy of adoption, 
let the reader determine. 

There is one topic, not indeed immediately connected with the 
present issue, but to which I would briefly advert. After referring to 
the achievements of physical science, the Professor of the Royal 

Institution asks contemptuously—“What has clairvoyance, or mes¬ 
merism, or table-rapping done in comparison to results like these? 
.What have any of these intelligences done in aiding such 



456 


TESTIMONY. 


developments? Why did they not.inform us of the possibility of 
photography ? or when that became known, why did they not favour 
us with some instructions for its improvement? They all profess 
to deal with agencies far more exalted in character than an electric 
current or a ray of light; they also deal with mechanical forces; they 
employ both the bodily organs and the mental; they profess to lift 
a table, to turn a hat, to see into a box, or into the next room, or a 
town; why should they not move a balance, and so give us the 
element of a new mechanical power ? take cognizance of a bottle and 
its contents, and tell us how they will act upon those of a neighbour¬ 
ing bottle.Why have they not corrected one of the mistakes of 

the philosophers ? There are, no doubt, very many that require it.” 

With the last remark I entirely concur; and think that a little 
careful examination of these despised phenomena would show that 
they do correct more than “ one ” of the “ mistakes of the philoso¬ 
phers.” Far be it from me, however, to say a word in disparagement 
of science, or to represent physical and spiritual truths as antago¬ 
nistic in their developments. I believe that there are mysteries and 
uses in both the physical and spiritual kingdoms of God’s universe. 
Let us only keep our hearts and minds open as little children, and 
we shall find that he who knows most of both will most clearly and 
fully perceive their inter-action and mutual harmony. But let us 
remember that each has its own order, that there is to every seed its 
own body, and that we must look to each for those results only 
which are in harmony with its nature. We do not ask whether th6 
religious labours of John Wesley produced the subsequent discoveries 
in electricity, or whether the discovery of the law of dia-magnetism 
caused the late religious revival in Ireland. But, as the life is more 
than meat, and the body than raiment, so are the things of the soul 
of higher value than the things of sense. And if certain phe¬ 
nomena of modern times have demonstrated the reality of a Spiritual 
world, and the intimate relation between the present and the future 
life; if they have established or confirmed a belief in Providence, 
and in the loving ministry of angels; if they have brought assurance 
to the doubting, and hope to the desponding, and consolation to the 
sorrowing; if they have corrected our mistakes, and enlarged our 
philosophy, and widened our charity; and I know they have done 
so in very many instances; then, I affirm that Spiritualism is pro¬ 
ductive of highly beneficent results, and that weighed in a just 
balance it will not be found wanting, even though it imparts no in. 



TESTIMONY. 


457 


structions “ for the improvement of photography,” and does not give 
ns “ the elements of a new mechanical power,” or tell ns “ how the 
contents of a bottle will act on those of a neighbouring bottle.”* 

In conclusion, I would remark with Mr. Chambers, that:—“ If I 
have here given a true view of human testimony, it will follow that, 
amongst the vast multitude of alleged things often heard of and 
habitually rejected, there are many entitled to more respect than 
they ordinarily receive. It is a strange thought; but possibly some 
truths may have been knocking at the door of human faith for thou¬ 
sands of years, and are not destined to be taken in for many yet to 
come—or, at the utmost, may long receive but an unhonouring sanc¬ 
tion from the vulgar and obscure, all owing to this principle of scep¬ 
ticism, that facts are valueless without an obvious relation to ascer¬ 
tained law. Should the contrary and (as I think) more inductive 
principle be ever adopted, that facts rightly testified to are worthy 
of a hearing, with a view to the ascertaining of some law under 
which they may be classed, a liberal retrospect along the history of 
knowledge will probably shew to us that, even amongst what have 
been considered as the superstitions of mankind, there are some 
valuable realities. Wherever there is a perseverance and uniformity 
of report on almost any subject, however heterodox it may have 
appeared, there may we look with some hopefulness that a principle 
or law will be found, if duly sought for. There is a whole class of 
alleged phenomena, of a mystically psychical character, mixing with 
the chronicles of false religions and of hagiology, in which it seems 
not unlikely that we might discover some golden grains. Perhaps, 
nay, probably, some mystic law, centreing deep in our nature, and 
touching far-distant spheres, of ‘untried being,’ runs through 
these undefined phenomena; which, if it ever be ascertained, will 
throw not a little light upon the past beliefs and actions of man¬ 
kind—perhaps add to our assurance that there is an immaterial 
and immortal part within us, and a world of relation beyond that 
now pressing upon our senses.” 

The Spectator of November 28, 1863, in commenting on a charge 
of the Bishop of St. David’s, goes farther, and remarks“ Dr. 
Thirlwall seems to think that if ever any generalization could be 

* It is, however, not meant to be denied that even in the path of scientific discovery we are 
indebted to spiritual suggestion more than we are ordinarily aware, but only, that the sensible 
communication of scientific knowledge is not the specific and ordinary sphere of spiritual opera¬ 
tions. 


458 


TESTIMONY. 


found for the Christian miracles which withdrew from them their 
exceptional character, then that in becoming natural they would 
cease to be witnesses to the supernatural. But suppose they become 
natural exactly because they are the natural phenomena in which 
closer intercourse with the spiritual world always tends to manifest 
itself. Suppose, for a moment,—what though it may be visionary is 
far from impossible—that the clouds of miracle which seem to appear 
and re-appear at intervals of religious enthusiasm along the course 
of the centuries from the birth of Christianity to the miracles of 
Port Royal, which last are, perhaps, individually better attested than 
any in history—were to be reduced to some law of connection be¬ 
tween the invisible world and the visible—so that the mighty mira¬ 
cles of our Lord raising the dead and stilling the tempest became 
only the burning focus of a host of periodic phenomena—would this 
in any way invalidate the worth of miracle ? On the contrary, would 
it not, by removing that character of fragmentary and interrupting 
volition which so offends the mind of science, set at rest one great 
difficulty and introduce no new one ? Grant as a mere hypothesis 
that the growth of a certain spiritual temperament in society should 
be found to foster a peculiar class of powers hitherto supposed super¬ 
natural, would not that give the highest possible testimony to the 
Christian miracles, as demonstrating that those mighty deeds were 
done by the fulness of the power which then took flesh and dwelt 
amongst us? Would not the existence (if admitted) of far fainter 
phenomena of the same kind on unquestionable evidence in genera¬ 
tions close to pur own sap the obstinate a 'priori incredulity with 
which the physical science men look on ? When the eyes of them 
that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall 
hearken, we shall, perhaps, dream no more of the broad chasm 
between secular history and revelation, or of miracles as thunder¬ 
claps which demonstrate God because they supersede Providence 
and confound science.” 


INDEX 

TO THE AUTHORS, OR BOOKS, &c., QUOTED OR REFERRED TO 


Abercrombie, 444. 

Act of Parliament of James 
I, 103. 

Addison, 302. 

Ambrose, 51. 

Anthon, 251. 

Apuleius, 114. 

Arago, 442. 

Arnaud, 87. 

Arnassan, 152. 

Arnold, 56. 

Athenagoras, 46, 49. 

Aubrey, 321. 

Augustine, 20, 50, 112. 

Bacon, 455. 

Ballou, 9. 

Bamberg, 406. 

Barkas, 449. 

Barnes, 278. 

Baxter, Richard, 111,116, 117, 
300, 322, 342. 

Baxter, Robert, 216, et seq. 
Beaumont, 323. 

Beecher, Charles, ix, 7, 8, 25, 
31, 304. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, 283. 
Bede, 56. 

Bel and the Dragon, 4. 
Believers in Christ's Second 
Appearing — Compendium 
of the Origin of, etc., 159, 
et seq. 

Bell, 448. 

Bernard, 115. 

Bertrand, 107. 

Beverage, 117, 275. 

Beza, 93, 94. 

Bickersteth, 268. 

Blackstone, 199. 

Blackwood's Magazine, 405. 
Blomfield, 268. 

Bost, 126, et seq. 

Boswell, 303. 

Boyer, 87, 93. 

Boys, 87, 94, 95, 96, 263. 
Brewster, 304. 


Brine, 406. 

Brisson, 153. 

Brittan, 10, 52. 

British Quarterly Review, x, 
305. 

Browne, 113. 

Brownson, xi, 255, 357, 401. 
Brucker, 19. 

Bruey, 154, 155. 

Bruguier, 152. 

Bulkeley, 157, 158. 

Bushnell, viii, xii, 83, 97,156, 
214, 278. 

Bull, 264. 

Butler, 58, 215. 

Byron, 301. 


Cabanel, 153. 

Calmet, 323. 

Campbell, Ceorge, 21, 442. 
Campbell, John, xi. 

Cardale, 240. « 

Cardan, 59. 

Carlyle, 90, 94, 132. 
Carmichael, 371. 

Catlin, 418. 

Cavallier, 148, 154. 

Challis, 452. 

Chalmers, 444, 445. 
Chambers, 104, 442, 457. 
Channing, 284, 285. 
Charlevoix, 414, 418. 

Chapin, 287. 

Chaucer, 59. , 

Christian Observer, 232, 234, 

235 # 

Christ's Second Appearing, 
Testimony of, etc.,165 etseq. 
Church of England Canons, 
Collects, Homilies, 123,262, 


264, 265. 

cero, xiii, 21, 23, 28. 
arke, Adam, 208, 420, 426. 
arke, Samuel, 86. 
asen, 26 
owes, 120, 272. 

)leman, 320. 


Coleridge, 183, 421, 426. 
Colquhon, 17, 19, 342. 
Comenius, 125. 

Comforter, The, or Spiritual 
World's Express, 200. 
Confessions of a Truth - 
Scffkc? 234 

Cooke,365, 369, 375, 376, 378. 
Creasy, 27. 

Crossland, Newton, 449. 
Crossland, Mrs., 2, 15, 449. 
Crowe, 227, 394. 

Cry from the Desert, 143, et 
seq. 

Cudworth, 19, 21. 
Cumberland, 26. 

Cyprian, 48. 

D’Aubigne, 90. 

Davey, 443. 

Davis, 371- 
Dawson, 188. 

De Caladon, 153. 

Dee, 340. 

De Foe, 322. 

De Morgan, Augustus, 442. 
De Morgan, Mrs., 199, 365. 
Dewey, 285, 286. 

Dexter, F. T., 254. 

Dexter, G. T., 8. 

Dickens, 334, 451. 

Dodwell, 43. 

Dubois, 152, 153. 

Dupotet, 105, 107. 

Dwight, 118, 277. 

Edmonds, 9, 341, 343, 450. 
Emerson, 182, 234. 
Encyclopaedia Americana, 
131. 

Encyclopaedia Metropolituna, 
11, 48. 

Ennemoser, x. 

Ernesti, 206. 

Erskine, 244. 

Evans, 168, 171. 

Fancourt, Miss, 231. 









460 


INDEX. 


Fancourt, Thomas, 232. 
Faraday, 439, 440, 456. 

Fage, 144, 147, 150, et seq. 
Farmer, 21. 

Ferguson, 286, 364. 

Fernald, 119, 377. 

Ferriar, 304, 443. 

Fishbough, 44, 123. 

Fleming, 52. 

Flotard, 153. 

Foley, 192. 

Fox, George , 133. et seq . 

Fox, Will)am Johnson , 380. 
Forbes, Granvil H , 268. 
Forbes, Jayne*, 440. 

Gasparin, 290. 

Gerson, 372. 

Gibbon, 381. 

Gilchrist, 299. 

Gill, 384. 

Glanvil, 58, 98, 314, et seq . 
Goethe, ix, 382. 

Goode, 157, 377. 

Gregory, x. 

Grimm, 186. 

Grindon, 299, 382. 

Grote, 30. 

Guicciardini, 59. 
Guldenstubbe, 337. 

Hall, Edward, 76. 

Hall, Joseph , 117, 273. 
Hallam, xiii. 

Hamilton, 289. 

Hare, 450. 

Harris, Martin, 251. 

Harris, Thomas L ., 355, 359. 
Harris, W. P ., 253. 

Harrison, 254. 

Hartley, 45. 

Harvey, 9. 

Hay, 11,61,63, 64, 69, 450. 
Heber, 274. 

Herbert, 20, 21. 

Herodotus, 19, 24. 

Herschel, 456. 

Hesiod, 12, 113. 

Hindoos > The, (Lib. E. K.), 
399. 

Hogg's Instructor , 409. 

Home, 320. 

Homer, 114, 293. 

Hooker, 274. 

Hopken, 186. 

Howie, 97. 

Howitt, Mary, 291. 

Howitt, William, 23,159,320, 
332, 339. 

Hue, 402. 

Humboldt, Alexander Von , 
443. 

Humboldt, William Von , 308. 
Hume, 41,69, 156, 440, 456. 
Hymns, All Saints' Church, 
268. 

Information for the People , 
103. 


j Inquiry after Happiness, 112. 
Intellectual Repository, 351. 
lrceneus, 40. 

Irving, Edward, 203, 204,205, 
206, 213, 222, 238. 

Irving, Washington, 305,386. 

Jackson, 278. 

Jamblichus, 32. 

Jardine, 312. 

Jarvis, 417, 418. 

Johnson, 301, 305. 

Joller, 330. 

Josephus, 14, 15, 35, 36, 370. 
Judith, 112. 

Jurieu, 125. 

Kant, 188. 

Kardec, 361. 

Keble, 266, 267. 

Kelly, 17. 

Ken, 275. 

Kerner, 304, 324. 

Kingsley, 35. 

Knobel, 8. 

Knox, 94, 96. 

Kohl, 412. 

Korun, The , 114. 

Lacy, 157, 158. 

Lactantius, 50. 

Lawson, 168. 

Landels, 121. 

Lane, 388, 397. 

La Place, 442. 

Lavater, 801. 

Law, viii. 

Leger, 86. 

Lewes, 31, 357, 451. 

Long, 31. 

Luther, 15, 89, 90, 91, 116, 
223. 

Lyra Apostolica, 267. 

Macaulay, 131, 132,,134. 

Mac Crie, 95. 

Macgovvan, 403. 

Machiavelli, 59. 

Mackintosh, 73, 84, 133. 
Madden, 57. 

Magical Processes, Journals 
of, etc., 340. * .* 

Mailiard, 237. M • 

Maimonides, 371. W 

Maitland, 233, 235, 272, 370. 
Malcolm, 399. 

Mans, Bishop of, 451. 
Marcellinus, 35. 

Mariani, 313. 

Marion, 145, 147, 154. 
Marsden, 129. 

Marsh, 138. 

Marsham, 18. 

Martineau, 396. 

Martyr, 46. 

Mason, 399. 

Mather, 100. 

Maurice, 14,31,34, 369, 271. 

: Mayhew, 252. 


Med win, 403. 

Melancthon, 93. 

Memorial to Congress, (U. S. 

A ), 335, 338, 3a9. 

Michelet, 89, 312. 

Middleton, 37, 38,39,41, 49, 
52, 99, 206. 

Mill, 443. 

Millenial Church , A Sum¬ 
mary View of the, 158. 
Millenial Star, 258. 
Mompesson, 317. 

Montanus, 46. 

Moor, 327. 

Moore, George, 122. 

Moore, Thomas, 18. 

More, 317, 320. 

Morin, 326. 

Morley, 313 

Mormon, Book of, Confirmed 
by Miracles, 259. 

Mormon , Testimonies to Book 
of, 256. 

Morning Watch, 220,221,230, 
235, 236, 240, 261. 

Morison, 52, 53, 55. 

Mosheim, 43. 

Musculus, 94. 

Muston, 86, 87. 

Neander, 29. 

New England Spiritualist, 
101 . 

New Quarterly Review, xi, 
437. 

New York Packet, 324. 
Newton, 9, 405. 

Neitschman, 127. 

Noble, 110, 366, 383. 

North British Review, x. 
Norton, 43. 

Nott, 277. 

Oliphant, 203, 213, 226, 229. 
Once a Week, 407. 

Origen, 48. 

Owen, John, 117. 

Owen, Robert Dale, 307. 

Paley, 445. 

Pantalogia, 113. 

Parker, 381. 

Pascal, 350. 

Patrick, 384. 

Pearson, 265. 

Physicians, Report of Com¬ 
mittee of, in the case of 
Martha Brossier, 106. 

Plato, 12, 29, 30, 114, 360. 
Plautus, 114. 

Plot, 320. 

Plotinus, 21, 32. 

Plutarch, 22, 24, 28. 

Poole, 393, 398. 

Porteus, 10. 

Potter, 278. 

Powell, 440. 

Pratt, Orson, 253, 257, 258, 
259. 







INDEX. 


461 


Pratt, Parley P., 259. 
Prideaux, 271. 

Priestley, 424. 

Proclus, 21, 22. 

Quarterly Review , 305, 394, 
398. 

R-, Dr., 449. 

Razeburgius, 89. 

Rich, 58, 304, 307, 311, 372. 
Robertson, 100. 

Rogers, 26. 

Rollin, 25. 

Rymer, 339. 

Saturday Magazine , 399. 
Saturday Review , 452. 
Schm6luer, 410. 

Schoolcraft, 413, 415. 

Scott, Thomas , 99, 372. 

Scott, Walter , xi. 6. 

Sears, 110. 

Seckendorf, 22. 

Seneca, 20, 383. 

Shakers, Return of Departed 
Spirits into the Bodies of 
the, 167. 

Sharp, 191, 192, 197. 

Sharpe, 101. 

Shelley, xiv. 

Smith, George, 172, 1777, 425. 
Smith, James E., xii, 192,200, 
383. 

Smith, Joseph, etseq , 258. 
Smyrna, Letter to the Church 
of, 45. 

Southcott, 191, et seq. 



Southey, 176, 424, 428. 
Spectator, The, 458. 

Spencer, 372. 

Spicer, 312. 

Spiritual Magazine, vii, 184, 
449. 

Spiritual Telegraph and Fire¬ 
side Preacher, 353. 
Springer, 188. 

Spurgeon, 121. 

St. John, xiii. 

St. Martin, vii. 

Stanley, 42. 

Stevens, 420. 

Stewart, 444. 

Stilling, 187. 

Stopford, 287. 

Stowe, 59. 

Stuart, J. P., 352. 

Stuart, Moses P., 278. 
Swedenborg, 183,184, 185,215. 

Taylor, Isaac, xiii, 14. 

Taylor, Thomas, 19, 21. 
Taylor, Mrs., 192. 

Tait’s Magazine, 310. 
Tennyson, xiv, 52. 

Tertullian, 35, 47, 48. 
Tneresa, 57. 

Thiebault, 186. 

Thompson, 114. 

Tillotson, 112, 116, 272. 
Times, The, 99. 

Timpson, 99. 

Tobit, Book of, 14. 

Toland, 110. 

Townsend, 115, 116. 

Townley, 198. 


Trench, 14, 446.; 

Turner, 72. 

Vnivers, The, 58. 

Vaughan, 33 53 •*— 

Vernet, 152. 

Villari, 58. 

Vi liars, 185. 

Virgil, 124. 

Waddiugton, 70. 

Wallace, viii. 

Watts, 118, 302. 

Webster, 11. 

Weller, 179, 344. 

Wells and Green, 165. 
Wesley, Charles, 118. 

Wesley, Emily, 524, 425. 
Wesley, John, 117,173, et seq. 
317, 420. 

Wesley, Samuel, 421. 

Wesley, Mrs., 422,423. 
Westminster Review, 344. 
Whiston, 27. 

Whitbv, 42. 

White, 183, 188. 

Whittier, ix, 298. 

Wiiberfurce, 124. 

Wilkinson, James J. G. 179, 
189, 211, 306, 339, 342, 447. 
Wilkinson, W. M., 178, 337. 
Wilks, 201, 202, 203, 212. 
Wilson, 429, et seq. 

Xenophon, 31. 

Zinzendorf, 127. 


r 


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